Developemnt and use - Training manual

[Blaise Alleyne]

Glen Merrick wrote:
> If you take a look around, you can find courses authorized by Ubuntu.
> 2x 1 week courses to train you to be a "Ubuntu Professional" or
> whatever.  Each course is around 2500 dollars plus the cost of the exam.
>  And passing this exam will give you a designation you can put on your
> CV and business card.
>
> People confuse FREE as in free beer with free when used with Open
> Source/GPL.
>
> If you take the profided Ubuntu documentation that is provided and give
> it away free, either on CD or even print it up, there should be no issue
> with it.
>
> Nether should there be issue if you charge money to train people on how
> to use Ubuntu or any other OS.  The philosophy of Ubuntu is to provide
> the code and software for free, and require you to document credit where
> credit is due if you use their product or code.  How else does
> Canonical, who foots the bill for Ubuntu development, make money?  Why,
> they sell service contracts for the Ubuntu Desktop and Server.  In fact
> I am in the process of purchasing said services in the odd chance I need
>  them for a handfull of desktops and servers.
>   

I'm not sure I follow you. Do you think the BY-NC-SA license is 
acceptable then?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with charging $2500 for its 
certification courses, and using a free (libre) license for the training 
manual wouldn't inhibit their ability to do that. In fact, such an 
official certification program would be all the more reason to take 
Canonical's course, however expensive, rather than a course offered by 
someone in the community using the training material.

But why shouldn't someone in the community be able to offer such a 
course? Why shouldn't a business be able to train its own users?

Canonical ought to profit from the services they provide, and I hope 
that they do! But this license choice is more about prevent others from 
seeking profit than ensuring that Canonical will profit.