[RULE] Sell RULE computers on ebay?

[Michael Fratoni]

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On Saturday 04 January 2003 11:09 pm, Marco Fioretti wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 04, 2003 17:20:40 at 05:20:40PM -0800, Eugene Wong 
> > >What about digging up old computers, installing RULE, and donating
> > > them or selling at a nominal price to the target audience, people
> > > who can't afford computers in the first place.
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > Why give it away for free? Why not sell it to someone who is waiting
> > in line to pay for it? If they can't afford it, because they haven't
> > got a job, then they should have enough free time to go join mailing
> > lists & read the same poor manuals that we do.
>
> ...unless it was their school or family that could not afford
> their *first* computer, in which case they would have nothing to go
> join mailing lists with...
> One of our original issues with Red Hat was that it sounds profoundly
> idiot to have to buy more RAM for your old computer because otherwise
> you cannot **install** an OS which *could* be trimmed down to work in
> the original amount of RAM...
>
> > I'm just trying to find a way for open source advocates to make
> > money. Why must everything be free?
>
> Nobody, starting from Stallman himself, would disagree with your
> question.
> There is absolutely nothing wrong with Free Software advocates making
> money out of it (note the distinction: Open Source SW, which is a Good
> Thing anyway, happened later to make money with software normally
> licensed with restrictions, but coming with source code).

I don't disagree, making money is not a bad thing.
That said, this is not what the RULE project should be doing. If someone 
else wants to sell installed systems based on the RULE Red Hat 
installer(s), that's fine as well. Hopefully, they'll send me a nice 
donation. ;)

Creating the tools to get the install done is one thing. Installing and 
selling the computer is another. One (not insignificant) problem is that 
as a non commercial venture, the RULE installers are not an issue. As 
soon as there is any hint of a commercial venture, we run the risk of 
crossing a fine line with the Red Hat trademark.

This is an issue I had specifically brought up on the anaconda devel list. 
and had been meaning to post here.

Keeping it brief, I asked if the RULE project ran a risk of running afoul 
of Red Hat's legal department. Matt Wilson replied:
- -------
"Since your project uses original (unmodified) Red Hat Linux CDs or
other install media, and since it's not a commercial endeavor, this
should be fine.

Cheers,

Matt"
- --------

Since my estimated lifetime income from this project is $0.00, I've no 
intention of putting myself in the position of having to defend any 
trademark violation lawsuits.

- -- 
- -Michael

pgp key:  http://www.tuxfan.homeip.net:8080/gpgkey.txt
Red Hat Linux 7.{2,3}|8.0 in 8M of RAM: http://www.rule-project.org/
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