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Domain: linux.cz

Stories and comments across the archive that link to linux.cz.

Stories · 3

  1. SuSE, Czech Localization, And An Odd Licensing Twist

    Linux · Suse · · posted by timothy · from the little-odd dept. · 144 comments
    Yenya writes: "A few weeks ago, SuSE Czech created the Czech localized version of StarOffice. The most interesting fact about it is, that you can distribute the message catalogs and other parts of it freely, you can even use it freely, as long as you use it under SuSE Linux only. The localization itself, of course, works on other distros without problems. You just cannot use it legally."

    "According to their FAQ and their official statement in the Czech Linux mailing list (both links are in Czech, sorry), they plan to GPL the StarOffice localization files after May 31, 2001. To make things even more interesting, they additionaly permit to use the StarOffice localization under Debian and Slackware after February 28, 2001. But when you use Red Hat, Mandrake, TurboLinux or anything else, you either have to switch your distribution, or wait until June.

    Do not get me wrong, they can put any license they want on the software they developed. But I definitely do not think this is the right thing to do for an Open source(tm) company.

    I should probably add a background info about Linux in the Czech republic: The most difficult part about Czech localization is, that we do not use ISO 8859-1, but ISO 8859-2. So we cannot use the standard PostScript fonts directly, we have problems with software, authors of which think everyone uses ISO 8859-1, etc. The most popular distribution here is definitely Red Hat Linux, but others (such as Debian, Slackware, Mandrake or SuSE are widely used, too). Only SuSE has the development team here, though. In the SuSE Czech (or with its funding) are developed for example the ALSA project, Linux Input drivers, etc. A majority of the Czech kernel developers work at least partly for SuSE (Martin Mares, the kernel PCI guru, Vojtech Pavlik, to name at least few).

    So SuSE Czech definitely does some good things, but their StarOffice localization licensing is, to be honest, unfortunate. What do you think about this?

    -Yenya (the head of the Czech Linux Users' group)"

  2. SuSE, Czech Localization, And An Odd Licensing Twist

    Linux · Suse · · posted by timothy · from the little-odd dept. · 144 comments
    Yenya writes: "A few weeks ago, SuSE Czech created the Czech localized version of StarOffice. The most interesting fact about it is, that you can distribute the message catalogs and other parts of it freely, you can even use it freely, as long as you use it under SuSE Linux only. The localization itself, of course, works on other distros without problems. You just cannot use it legally."

    "According to their FAQ and their official statement in the Czech Linux mailing list (both links are in Czech, sorry), they plan to GPL the StarOffice localization files after May 31, 2001. To make things even more interesting, they additionaly permit to use the StarOffice localization under Debian and Slackware after February 28, 2001. But when you use Red Hat, Mandrake, TurboLinux or anything else, you either have to switch your distribution, or wait until June.

    Do not get me wrong, they can put any license they want on the software they developed. But I definitely do not think this is the right thing to do for an Open source(tm) company.

    I should probably add a background info about Linux in the Czech republic: The most difficult part about Czech localization is, that we do not use ISO 8859-1, but ISO 8859-2. So we cannot use the standard PostScript fonts directly, we have problems with software, authors of which think everyone uses ISO 8859-1, etc. The most popular distribution here is definitely Red Hat Linux, but others (such as Debian, Slackware, Mandrake or SuSE are widely used, too). Only SuSE has the development team here, though. In the SuSE Czech (or with its funding) are developed for example the ALSA project, Linux Input drivers, etc. A majority of the Czech kernel developers work at least partly for SuSE (Martin Mares, the kernel PCI guru, Vojtech Pavlik, to name at least few).

    So SuSE Czech definitely does some good things, but their StarOffice localization licensing is, to be honest, unfortunate. What do you think about this?

    -Yenya (the head of the Czech Linux Users' group)"

  3. SuSE, Czech Localization, And An Odd Licensing Twist

    Linux · Suse · · posted by timothy · from the little-odd dept. · 144 comments
    Yenya writes: "A few weeks ago, SuSE Czech created the Czech localized version of StarOffice. The most interesting fact about it is, that you can distribute the message catalogs and other parts of it freely, you can even use it freely, as long as you use it under SuSE Linux only. The localization itself, of course, works on other distros without problems. You just cannot use it legally."

    "According to their FAQ and their official statement in the Czech Linux mailing list (both links are in Czech, sorry), they plan to GPL the StarOffice localization files after May 31, 2001. To make things even more interesting, they additionaly permit to use the StarOffice localization under Debian and Slackware after February 28, 2001. But when you use Red Hat, Mandrake, TurboLinux or anything else, you either have to switch your distribution, or wait until June.

    Do not get me wrong, they can put any license they want on the software they developed. But I definitely do not think this is the right thing to do for an Open source(tm) company.

    I should probably add a background info about Linux in the Czech republic: The most difficult part about Czech localization is, that we do not use ISO 8859-1, but ISO 8859-2. So we cannot use the standard PostScript fonts directly, we have problems with software, authors of which think everyone uses ISO 8859-1, etc. The most popular distribution here is definitely Red Hat Linux, but others (such as Debian, Slackware, Mandrake or SuSE are widely used, too). Only SuSE has the development team here, though. In the SuSE Czech (or with its funding) are developed for example the ALSA project, Linux Input drivers, etc. A majority of the Czech kernel developers work at least partly for SuSE (Martin Mares, the kernel PCI guru, Vojtech Pavlik, to name at least few).

    So SuSE Czech definitely does some good things, but their StarOffice localization licensing is, to be honest, unfortunate. What do you think about this?

    -Yenya (the head of the Czech Linux Users' group)"