“The argument between Corel and those who think that the
company’s beta distribution terms are a violation of the GNU GPL
(the General Public License, under which Linux is released)
probably boils down to a misunderstanding.”
“The GPL is supposed to protect one thing, and Corel is
attempting to protect another thing altogether. The GPL itself is
clear. Technically, Corel cannot legally prevent anyone from
redistributing any specific package that falls under the GPL,
regardless of the license it uses for its beta distribution.”
“But, according to Corel’s representatives, that was never the
intent of the beta testing agreement. LinuxWorld talked with
Corel’s Executive Vice President of Engineering Derek Burney,
Product Development Manager for Corel Linux Erich Forler, and
Communications Manager Judith O’Brien to try to get to the bottom
of the controversy.“