Is linux free 4997

The charitable interpretation would be that HalcyonWild is just a bit confused. There's a tediously familiar logic to his posts: He used to be able to download nearly every well-known distribution free of charge. He now notices that a number of well-known distributions are not lawfully redistributable, and figures some right of his must be getting trammeled, though he's a bit unclear on what that right is.

Besides, he doesn't enjoy the perceived quality flaws he thinks he sees in freely redistributable distributions, and figures he can taunt, wheedle, and complain that situation out of existence.

So, we see: A vague sense of enbreastlement, laziness, aggressive ignorance, a whiney approach to the subject -- and pervasive error. And he's surprised to get a somewhat dismissive reception?

Guess what, HalcyonWild? Back in the days when you became accustomed to downloading (e.g.) RH9 ISOs "free", the large amounts of bandwidth and hosting services required were never free of charge. They were merely subsidised, at a time when vulture capitalists were handing out money like candy.

Well, it's not 1999, any more. A lot of the places on the Net that used to underwrite immense bandwidth bills to make dozens of popular Linux distribution ISOs available to the public got tired of the expense. And some firms such as Red Hat, Inc., whether wisely or not, decided that emphasising somewhat restrictive service agreements wrapped around their (otherwise) open source offerings made for a better likelihood of business success.

But there do remain a hundred or so freely redistributable, maintained distributions at any given time. HalcyonWild might enjoy one of those -- or not. But he really ought to adjust his atbreastude.