From: Barry Fitzgerald (bkfsecsdf.lonestar.org)
Date: Thu Jul 01 2004 - 17:48:41 CDT

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Denis Dimick wrote:

>Did M$ write ftp.exe? If so then they "own" it, they own the sources and
>all rights to the code. Redhat owns very little of the code you get on
>there CD.
>
>Denis
>
>
>
>

I think that the demarcation line for this is where money changed hands.

First of all, ftp.exe is a common example because the ftp.exe that MS
has traditionally included with various versions of windows has text
data in it's binary that's part of the BSD license. So, ftp.exe is
"borrowed" code, so to speak.

First, I'm all for Free Software businesses (anyone who knows me knows
this). But, once a company chooses to redistribute Free Software code,
they "own" it for all intents and purposes. The original authors aren't
responsible for it because distributions can (and in many cases do)
modify the code before they redistribute it.

Red Hat takes the money, they get the burden of support. That's the way
the model works. :)

             -Barry

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