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UnitedLinux might not be very GPL-friendly

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27186.html

By Tina Gasperson, Newsforge.com

Posted: 19/09/2002 at 06:31 GMT

UnitedLinux held a telephone party yesterday to announce new general manager Paula Hunter and talk about its open beta release.

[...]

But what we at NewsForge really wanted to know was how UnitedLinux is planning to stay true to the heart of Linux -- the GNU General Public License. Nobody else seemed interested, so we asked how UL managed to release a closed beta and still comply with the terms of the GPL.

UnitedLinux admitted it had its partners sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to use the closed beta, which likely means that UL violated the copyright of kernel developers everywhere and others who have contributed to GNU/Linux. If the NDA was structured so that the GPL would take precedence on non-proprietary, Free Software elements of the software, then that NDA would not violate the terms of the GPL. It is more likely, however, that the NDA squashed the GPLed freedoms by forcing recipients of the closed beta to agree that they would not redistribute any portion of the software.

[...]

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