[ale] WinGIMP.com selling 'packaged versions' of GIMP 2.0 for Windows

[Jason Day]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2004 at 01:17:21PM -0500, John Wells wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 12:09:54 -0500
> Sigmascape1 at cs.com wrote:
[snip]
> I think it's just this attitude that prevents a lot of companies from
> finally making the jump to the Linux desktop.  I mean, how dare they
> sell a product, and (gasp!) make money doing so!  You're absolutely
> right...the very fact that the software is open source and freely
> available elsewhere removes any right they have to charge any more
> than what you could buy a six pack of Old Milwaukee for at Citgo.  

I think you're missing the point.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with
anyone selling software that runs on Linux (or any other desktop, for
that matter).  In this case though, as far as I can tell, the people
doing the selling are not the same as the people who wrote the software.
I may be wrong, and Archei LLC may in fact contribute heavily to the
GIMP, I haven't checked it out.  But it looks like all they do is take
someone else's source code, compile it, put it on a CD, and sell it for
$79.95.  Not that there is anything wrong with this, the GPL allows them
to do it.  But the GPL also allows anyone who buys the CD to
redistribute the GPL code on the CD, which would include the GIMP
binaries, but might possibly exclude artwork, logos, or documents that
were not originally distributed with the GIMP.

As others have said, if they provide reliable support for customers who
buy their CDs, then the price may be worth it.  I think it's kind of
sleazy, though.
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9