> No, Debian does not sell Debian. Trouble is, nobody else could. Debian
> can include X11R6.4 but nobody could sell a CDROM with Debian on it.
Yeah, that's what I meant... ;-)
> It would have to work something like this:
>
> XFree86 buys a special license from Open Group for $10,000 and calls
> their product X11F6.4. In exchange for redistribution, XFree agrees to
> support it. I really do not think this will work because what is XFree
> going to get for its $10,000 except having to support code that it did not
> write?
What they would get for $10,000 would be an unencumbered license of their
own (the original X license) on "their copy" of the "official" R6.4
sources. With this they would be able to keep supporting free software
(i.e. Linux).
> Open Group has their head squarely up their collective rump.
Agreed. What bothers me almost as much as the license change is their
audacity in keeping the "OpenGroup" name. Everything they do now is
closed, limited to the select few organizations who are willing to pump
tens of thousands of dollars into this (now) sorry organization.
> They are going to kill a goose that never had a golden egg. Since their
> source will still be downloadable for "non-commercial" use, their
> functionality will be "cleanroomed" into XFree and nobody will every buy
> a X11R6.4 license. Linux is a borg and will assimillate any functionality
> that comes along. They can not hide behind money.
All in all, cleanrooming things may be the best solution from a limited
solution-set. Unless something can be worked out allowing XFree to scrub
the license (for a licensing fee or not), that's what's going to happen.
Just like Linux (exactly like, in fact), XFree will become the dominant
branch. Minix is basically dead. X11R6.4 will be as well.
Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
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