Mandrake flirts with non-open source

CNET News.com ^ | December 16, 2002, 1:01 PM PT | Stephen Shankland

[Bush2000]

Mandrake flirts with non-open source

By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 16, 2002, 1:01 PM PT

MandrakeSoft has taken a step away from the open-source philosophy, changing license terms for a Linux-based firewall so customers that want product support may no longer install the software on as many computers as they wish. The company's new Multi Network Firewall (MNF) software is free and ships under an open-source license for those who don't need support, Paris-based MandrakeSoft said Thursday. But if customers want support, they must buy a version covered by a different, more restrictive license.

"Our goal is also to sell directly more expensive products to customers," said MandrakeSoft co-founder Gael Duval, adding that the product is still priced to undercut competitors such as Check Point Software.

"Additionally, users can download the product, try it, and if they are satisfied, purchase later a commercial license that gives them access to support," Duval said in an e-mail interview.

It's not the first time an open-source company has made philosophical adjustments for pragmatic reasons. The fervor for the collaborative-programming model has yielded to bottom-line concerns at many companies. Indeed, as the Internet mania of the late 1990s was replaced by recession pessimism, many free-lunch ideas expired.

Firewall software protects computers from undesired network traffic, such as probes by hackers. Mandrake's firewall products are part of an effort to expand into corporate software from its base of versions of Linux for desktop computers. The firewall offerings include Mandrake-written code, to which it owns the copyright, as well as software taken from the open-source domain.

The dual-license approach is similar to that used by some other open-source projects, such as the MySQL database.

Though the licenses may differ, the software is technologically identical, MandrakeSoft said. But the two licenses--the seminal General Public License (GPL) for the free version and the new MandrakeSecurity MNF Commercial License for the paid version--impose very different constraints on how the software may be used.

The unsupported, GPL version may be freely copied and changed and installed on as many computers as a customer likes. The GPL requires that any changes made to the software be published publicly if the modified version is distributed.

The commercial version may be installed on only one computer, though it supports any number of clients connecting to it. MandrakeSoft supports the product and gives faster access to updates. In addition, business partners may change the software without requiring the changes to be published.

[Bush2000]

Reality sets in ...

[Fractal Trader]

The model of open source, for better or worse, has always been to make money on support of the product, not on the source code. Mandrake's action shows no variance from that model. If you would read the article, you would see that the identical source code can still be obtained and modified under a GPL license.

This is a non-news article.

[Bush2000]

This is a non-news article.

Uhhhh...no ...

"... customers that want product support may no longer install the software on as many computers as they wish."

[Karsus]

You still have not answered my question from a few days ago.

"Microsoft again ups risk rating on IE (flaw #999,999,999,999)
Posted by Karsus to Bush2000
On News/Activism 12/13/2002 10:56 PM CST #38 of 68

That was a joke. You do know who W. Richard Stevens is, don't you? And what books he has done?"

This was in response to this post of yours

"But But But MSFT helped Al Gore invent the Interweb.

Don't quit your day job. I see fast food in your future, otherwise."


Well?

[Bush2000]

Oh, great. A stalker.

[Karsus]

No. I asked a question that would help me judge how much you know. Your inability to answer the question appears to show that, while you talk like you know a lot about computers, you really do not.

[Bush2000]

Knock yourself out:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dbooks%26field-author%3DStevens%2C%20W.%20Richard/ref%3Dpd%5Fsimart%5Fdetail/102-9559003-7032114

[Karsus]

I have his books. I read his books. I use his books as a ref.

I love the fact that someone who claims to be such a computer expert had to go to amazon.com to figure out who WRS was. I would think than any computer person worth his salt would know who he is.

[Bush2000]

I have his books. I read his books. I use his books as a ref.

Kiss his butt on your own time.

[Karsus]

Only one who has never read the best ref on TCP/IP could say that. Do you really know anything about computers? Or are you just talking like you do?

[Bush2000]

Hey, I don't have any problem whatsoever with anything MandrakeSoft wants/needs to do to remain profitable. But it's interesting to note that their licensing model precludes making unlimited copies of the software.

[Bush2000]

Only one who has never read the best ref on TCP/IP could say that

Like I care about your opinion.

[Nick Danger]

it's interesting to note that their licensing model precludes making unlimited copies of the software.

That's because they're selling support. Why the Hell they called it a license fee is beyond me. Obviously, support costs go up as you have more servers. This scheme makes you pay what amounts to a per-server support charge. It's a pricing algorithm for support, that's all.

The fact is, you can copy the software itself, because the exact same software is also available, for free, under the GPL. But you don't get to call the 800 number if you do that. No free lunch, no free technicians on the phone.

I also suspect that release from the GPL's requirement that any mods be made public was "customer input." Especially in the case of firewalls, I could see IT guys wanting to tweak things -- that damned Senior VP with the one-off German PDA he got somewhere who insists on a VPN protocol that no one supports -- and not let the world know about it.

[Fractal Trader]

That's just plain ridiculous Bushie and you know it. I worked for a client two years ago who evaluated support for Linux distributions and got quotes for 24/7 support fees at $50,000 per year. And that was only for support on a specified number of servers.

As I said, there is nothing new here at all.

[ShadowAce]

Uhhhh...no ...

"... customers that want product support may no longer install the software on as many computers as they wish."

OK. Let's see if I understand this. You claim that because Mandrake is selling support per server, that the code they distribute is no longer open-source?

BWAAAAAHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!

You really do have a reading comprehension problem, don't you?

[Karsus]

Well, do you have any experience working with computers? You never seem to answer that question.

[Bush2000]

You claim that because Mandrake is selling support per server, that the code they distribute is no longer open-source? BWAAAAAHHHAAAAAA!!!!!! You really do have a reading comprehension problem, don't you?

Where did I ever say that, doofus? Now who's got the reading comprehension problem?

[Bush2000]

Well, do you have any experience working with computers? You never seem to answer that question.

No. Never touched one. In fact, I'm not typing this message on a computer at all. Happy?

[Bush2000]

That's just plain ridiculous Bushie and you know it. I worked for a client two years ago who evaluated support for Linux distributions and got quotes for 24/7 support fees at $50,000 per year. And that was only for support on a specified number of servers. As I said, there is nothing new here at all.

Reference, please. Let's evaluate how "old" this news is.

[Karsus]

Am I happy? Yes, I have a lovely wife and kids so, yes, I am happy. How about you?

[ShadowAce]

Where did I ever say that, doofus? Now who's got the reading comprehension problem?

The title of the thread that YOU posted, doofus.

[Bush2000]

The title of the thread that YOU posted, doofus.

Nice try. Now show me where I supported their title. Or is it your (mistaken) belief that people posting articles automatically concur with title/content of posted articles?

[Textide]

ping

[Havoc]

Oh brother. The MS Apostle here to save us all from that dastardly Unix/Linux crowd. Woe. Woe is us ign'ant fokes who jist can't sees that the MS Monopoly makes the bestus prod-uh.. produ.. things for these here compubobemalaters
extant (hear'd that in da Shootist).

Some day, oh apologist, you may learn that propagandizing the intellectuals doesn't make your MS product better. It still sucks. And every time we give it another chance, we
find, It still sucks; but, keep remembering Beavis and Butthead, "This sucks worse than anything that has ever sucked before."

Oh, and I can wait for you to finish praying to the MS Flying Marquee to respond; but, don't over exert yourself.
These endless crusades of yours make me yawn these days.

[rdb3]

Pass. Thanx anyhow.

Birth of Tha SYNDICATE, the philosophical heir to William Lloyd Garrison.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

[Bush2000]

Some day, oh apologist ...

You ABMers are hilarious. If anybody posts a Windows bug, they're a hero. You pat them on the back and grouse about that damn company in Redmond. But if somebody posts an open source-related bug, you're all over them like a cheap suit, calling them "apologists" or "apostles" or whatever -- and trying your damndest to forget what you said previously about MS. Well, that's too damn bad. I'm going to rub your nose in it.

[ShadowAce]

Now show me where I supported their title.

From Post #12:

But it's interesting to note that their licensing model precludes making unlimited copies of the software.

These comments indicate that you believe you cannot make unlimited copies of the software. You can make all the copies you want. You'll just get support for installations with the limited number of installations.

[Bush2000]

Reread the first line of the article: "MandrakeSoft has taken a step away from the open-source philosophy, changing license terms for a Linux-based firewall so customers that want product support may no longer install the software on as many computers as they wish."

[ShadowAce]

real slow now....

...so customers that want product support....

If you don't want/need the support, you may make as many copies as you wish.

[Bush2000]

Are you being deliberately obtuse? There's nothing confusing about my statement: "But it's interesting to note that their licensing model precludes making unlimited copies of the software." The "licensing model" refers to this new arrangement.