[ubuntu-us-in] "Free" software CD

[Jason Corfman]

I guess my feeling is I don't understand how they could stop free 
redistribution of a free program, especially when they use third-party 
sites like download.com to distribute it to begin with. And I'm not 
making money on it (not even to cover the cost of the CD), so I don't 
see why they would care. It just saves them the bandwidth and spreads 
their product. If I sold the CD, even for a buck or two, or if I gave a 
free CD with the purchase of something else, I could understand them 
being upset. But I'm just giving these away to anyone who will take one.

I picked Comodo Antivirus for several reasons. First, the license is 
better. The free AVG can only be installed on one computer per network, 
and even then only for home use. Comodo can be installed on as many 
computers as you want to install it on, even in a business environment, 
although it isn't open source. Second, the install file is 10 MB smaller 
for Comodo than it is for AVG, although if that were the only 
consideration, I would use Avast, which is 10 MB smaller than Comodo. 
Third, AVG seemed to get rather persistent in upgrading people to a paid 
version. I don't mind them trying to advertise their paid version, but 
when they make it look like the free version is no longer available when 
it is still available, I look for something else.

Most people I know don't bother with purchasing antivirus and are happy 
with whatever came with their computer. The fact that they had a 90 day 
antivirus trial on their computer that they bought four years ago 
escapes them (a coworker asked me to clean a virus off his personal 
computer with three-year-old expired antivirus... he didn't have a 
virus, he had 93 different viruses). As an IT guy, I think people who 
use Windows should use a current antivirus, and if I am going to give 
them software, I want some of that software to be antivirus that runs 
automatically (ClamWin only scans when you tell it to). And along those 
lines, adware and spyware are just as bad to a system as viruses, so I 
want to make sure that I give out some way of cleaning those as well. If 
I could find open source alternatives, I would switch in a heartbeat.

And if I could move everyone to Ubuntu, I would. But most people I know 
don't know enough about Linux or Ubuntu to switch. Heck, most of them 
don't know anything about Windows except that is what they have always 
used and that is what everyone else uses, so it must be good. And if 
they know anything about Linux, it is probably from me, but when I start 
talking about it, their eyes glaze over or they just dismiss what I'm 
saying as the ravings of a fanatic (like me being a Cincinnati Bengals 
fan despite living 25 miles from the Colts stadium).

Jason

Simón Ruiz wrote:
> Erm, not necessarily. One of the things that makes free software free
> is the right to help your neighbor by re-distributing. Proprietarily
> licensed stuff may or may not allow this, depending on each individual
> program's license.
>
> Unless you read each license and see that they specifically allow
> re-distribution, I would assume they don't.
>
> You're not *likely* to face legal action for re-distributing something
> that can be freely obtained by anyone...
>
> Now that you mention it, this sort of ambiguity is another point in
> favor of free licensing.
>
> Simón
>
> P.S. FWIW, I put AVG Free edition (an anti-virus) on my
> mother-in-law's home computer that runs XP. I don't know how it stacks
> up against Comodo.
>
> P.P.S. Very, very soon, she will have a shiny new Ubuntu machine,
> cause both my wife and I are tired of supporting XP. ;-)
>
>