Quoting Paul Linehan (plinehan@yahoo.com):
> I'm confused. I thought it was GPL'ed and that the money you paid SuSE
> was for your 60 day support or whatever?
Yes, you're confused.
A Linux distribution (_any_ Linux distribution) contains lots and lots
of separate codebases.  Some are under the GNU GPL.  Many are not.  Are
you clear on this point, now?  This is my second try.  One suspects that
you actually understand perfectly, but just don't like it.
You're further confused if you think the GNU GPL gives you the right to
get covered software for free.  It does not.  It provides that _if_
you've lawfully received a copy of the covered binary version, you have
rights to also receive the matching source code.
> I don't particularly need support, so I'm not really interested in
> purchasing a set of disks with 4 billion apps which I'll never use.
Then, if you nonetheless want a SuSE boxed set's contents, the only way
you can do that without copyright violation _and_ without having to pay
the purchase price is to get someone to _give_ (not "lend" or duplicate)
you his copy.
> Yes, thanks for your input. Anyway, I've a friend with 7.3 pro, so
> I'll just ask him.
Ask him _what_?  If you're asking him to "lend" or duplicate his CDs,
then you'll be ripping off SuSE Linux AG illegally.
Don't like SuSE's product licensing?  Write your own distribution.  You
can even grab most of what you need _from SuSE_.  All you have to do is
heed the licensing terms on the individual pieces.
What, you think that's too much work?  Then, try a different
distribution.  Clue:  _Not_ one packaged in a retail boxed set.  Even RH
7.3 retail boxed sets include non-freely redistributable applications on
the Star office 5.2 CD and the Productivity Applications CD, among
others.  (The core 3-CD set of the basic RH distribution, on the other
hand, contains only software that may be freely redistributed, whether
open source or not.)
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