> Something that I've thought of, as I've read this thread, was
> implied in Jordan's message, but I'd like to make it more explicit:
>
> Walnut Creek makes several CD-ROMs. The majority of them are
> collections of freeware or shareware. I doubt they contacted
> the authors of these programs for permission to distribute them
> on CD-ROM.
They don't need to. Shareware (the term "freeware" has no legal
meaning) is accompanied by a license that explicitly grants permission
to distribute. That's what makes it shareware.
> Some of the programs may have licenses that permit CD-ROM producers
> to place their software on the CD-ROMs, but I think such explicit
> licenses are rare.
You are mistaken. Shareware without an explicit license is a
contradiction in terms.
> Writing FAQs takes time and effort, so does good software (free
> or otherwise). FAQs can change fairly often, but so can software
> - the Linux kernel gets new patches more often than I update my
> FAQ. So where's the difference?
There is none. In either case, explicit permission from the author is
required.
[
Usenet Hypertext FAQ Archive |
Search Mail Archive |
Authors |
Usenet
]
[
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997
]
© Copyright The Landfield Group, 1997
All rights reserved