“A few weeks ago, SuSE Czech created the Czech localized version
of StarOffice. The most interesting fact about it is, that you can
distribute the message catalogs and other parts of it freely, you
can even use it freely, as long as you use it under SuSE Linux
only. The localization itself, of course, works on other distros
without problems. You just cannot use it legally.”
“According to their FAQ and their official statement in the
Czech Linux mailing list (both links are in Czech, sorry), they
plan to GPL the StarOffice localization files after May 31, 2001.
To make things even more interesting, they additionaly permit to
use the StarOffice localization under Debian and Slackware after
February 28, 2001. But when you use Red Hat, Mandrake, TurboLinux
or anything else, you either have to switch your distribution, or
wait until June.”
“Do not get me wrong, they can put any license they want on the
software they developed. But I definitely do not think this is the
right thing to do for an Open source(tm) company.”