> Infomagic has printed a CD-ROM called USENET CD-ROM. It contains about
> a hundred FAQ lists. Was any of you contacted for permission regarding
> the usage of the FAQ?.
Not me, but I don't even know which FAQs are on the CD. Anybody know a
place where I can find out (except mailing InfoMagic.. I got their address)?
I've had others requesting permission for CD-ROM distribution,
but not from InfoMagic. I heard about this CD-ROM some days ago.
It makes me wonder if InfoMagic asked the authors of other documents
on other CD-ROMs, like their Linux releases, for permission.
Maybe they just thought FAQs are in the PD when they're posted?
From reading the comp.os.linux.* groups they seem pretty responsive
to questions, so you might want to try info@infomagic.com
But then again, I never heard anything from Walnut Creek after asking
about some outdated versions they were putting on their CD.
As more and more companies are starting to make a buck out of the
Net (see the increase in the number of books for example), I expect
these kind of things to happen more often.. not a very good course
but it seems there's not much one can do about it. I don't think they're
going to recall the CD's if one or more authors complain.
Maybe it's time for some standard rtfm.mit.edu policy on the distribution/
publication of FAQs that applies to the mirrors as well?
SimTel has some sort of policy regarding CD distributions of their archive,
maybe that can be used as a guideline. I don't care much for a part of the
profit (if any), although I'd like a complimentary book or CD, but think
that the goal of such a policy would be to help maintain rtfm.
Excerpts from an announcement by InfoMagic's Joel Goldberger about their
CD's, annotated by me:
>Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
>From: Joel@InfoMagic.com (Joel Goldberger)
>Subject: An alternative to JANA
>Organization: InfoMagic, Inc.
>Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 02:10:33 GMT
[]
>Unlike some other vendors who are dancing close to the edge of the GNU General
>Public license by not providing full sources we have also included the
>complete source tree from prep.ai.mit.edu
Mmm.. but what about copyrighted FAQs? I would say they crossed at least
some line by not contacting the authors before putting some material on
the CD that either is quickly outdated or maybe not meant for this kind
of distribution.
>While we are not wizards in the land of Linux we have always been happy to
>answer any and all questions. We also work with a number of current and
>former Linux developers so we are generally able to get an answer to every
>question. In other words, we support what we sell !
Uh-huh... so they'll provide updates to the Usenet CD-ROM as well?
And what if someone has a question about my FAQ? Are they going to
answer it or direct them to me or what?
Yes I know it's a rather old posting.. but they sound enthusiastic enough
right?
Perry Rovers, Maintainer Anonymous FTP FAQ and Sitelist
-- Perry RoversHome: Perry.Rovers@garfield.hacktic.nl Work: Perry.Rovers@kub.nl
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