Symphony OS seems sketchy..

[anoxan]

I didn't know where to post this, but since I'm new to linux, I figured here would work.

I saw an article about symphony on distrowatch and decided to try it out. but apparently I have to pay $1 to dl the iso.

now this strikes me as a little odd, since they keep insisting on their site that it's a donation, yet it is quite obviously a fee. since they say their os is "ubuntu-based", I'm a little irritated that I'd have to pay for a non-virgin copy of ubuntu. seems like they may be charging for their alternate gui, but I still find this to be disturbing. I thought that software under gnu was free?

I'm not against donations at all, but I am against misleading advertisements.

please correct me if I'm wrong; but if I'm not, please have someone look into this.

link to their download page (http://symphonyos.com/cms/?page_id=3)

cheers

[master5o1]

The ISO will be made available via bittorrent and free direct download on April 18, 2008

Also under the GPL you are allowed to charge for software, there is nothing wrong with that and much better than seeing for example a $5 paper clip plus free ubuntu disc on ebay etc.

In the situation of symphony OS I would see the $1 charge as compensation for the bandwidth etc, no different to charging a courier fee on a disc. It is up to you whether you think $1 is worth it if you can not wait for bit torrent.

[finferflu]

And while it's not illegal selling GPL software, it's not illegal downloading it for free somewhere else either.
What I personally would do is getting hold of a free copy, and then considering a donation, perhaps even more than 1$, if I like the software.

[anoxan]

The ISO will be made available via bittorrent and free direct download on April 18, 2008

Also under the GPL you are allowed to charge for software, there is nothing wrong with that and much better than seeing for example a $5 paper clip plus free ubuntu disc on ebay etc...

and so I was corrected! sorry, I didn't see that little disclaimer about the 18th...kinda feel dumb about that.. I haven't made a mistake like that in a while.. lol, that's the last time I go distro-shopping without sleep ^^;

I'll agree with you as well on that little example you have there. still though, I understand people need to cover their bases, but I really wish they would've used a different word than "donation." "tester's fee", or "subscription" would've worked better imo. I'm a college student living on grants, so I don't normally donate; but I do what I can to help.

I basically do what you do, finferflu. at least I learned a few things about the gpl, right..?:p


I get all my isos through torrents. better chance of getting all of the iso. and if I can wait for hardy, I can wait for this.

[K.Mandla]

Moved to Other OS Talk.

[master5o1]

I think bandwidth fee would be better. I had a look around their website which for me was last night, and it seemed they had an overwhelming response with even the $1 fee and their server still could barely cope.

I think it's fair to charge for bandwidth, it is expensive especially when you are getting in to the hundreds or thousands of GB (which happens with 700mb isos and DVD's!!!)

The argument is digital downloads is that it's almost free to reproduce content, that's true with smaller files but bandwidth around the world is too expensive (seriously telco's need to upgrade their bloody lines) I don't see why the developers of an OS, who have spent their free time working for free should have to pay money for others to get their time and effort for free. That's not fair :(

Bit Torrent is the best thing for linux, you essentially "pay" for your distro by having dl/ul ratio of 1.

Personally I would not be offended at all if canonical made a $1 donation. I think it would be a good idea, they could probably make around $10,000 per release which might just pay for their server back ends every 6 months.

[quickshade]

I wouldn't mind more distros changing for direct download if I was guaranteed a DL speed. Plus that would have more people using torrents and hopefully make it easier to keep speeds up.