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Rekall Binary

root Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
Wed Dec 31 16:04:06 EST 2003 
It looks like

TotalRekall sells the GPL version for 15 pounds:

http://www.totalrekall.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=CCart&id=16

Which seems in keeping with:

"...small charge for Rekall binary distributions to cover our costs"

By the way, it's still not clear how strong a busness model it is to 
give away GPL software and expect to make money off services. Have you 
seen what RedHat is now doing?

In any case, I don't think there is anything wrong with charging more 
than distribution costs for a binary version of GPL'd program. Creating 
binaries that work on various versions of various platforms and 
providing a nice installer for them is quite a bit of work. Also, the 
GPL is about freedom: not cheap software. The idea is that it a good 
thing for all involved for users to have access to source code. That is 
very different than providing inexpensive software for folks that can't 
figure out how to compile something (or can't be bothered). Those folks 
will not be contirbuting to the p[roject, and will not be using the code 
in their own projects.

That being said, I'm very happy that I can get so much open source 
software in nicely packaged binary (or easy to compile) form. I only 
contribute to a VERY SMALL fraction of all the free software I use.

-Chris
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