Is linux free 5004

Of course. Keeping track of individual trolls is pointless, and their number ultimately really doesn't matter.

And this guy did none of those things. He credibly claims to have run major distributions (notably RH) that were at the time freely downloadable but no longer are in the same form, is distressed at their withdrawal, and is reaching blindly for some reason to suppose that he has cause for complaint.

One certainly needn't be a troll to profess that position: We've seen it, and variations on it, a great deal over the past 13 years. The concept of "Certain of this code is freely redistributable, but nobody's obliged to give you a copy at any price let alone for free, let alone as downloadable CD images, except some parties have obligations of access to some matching source code, and not necessarily in the fashion you prefer" is subtle. Many people never quite get it right, and can't see past "Hey! I used to be able to download this thing in convenient form. But it stopped. Doesn't that mean someone's ripping me off?"

In any event, you're perhaps missing my key point: Trolls delight in causing online havoc. This guy didn't; he just posted some ill-informed analysis and opinion, and then was quickly and calmly set straight. That's either no troll or an incompetent one.

Oh, c'mon. That's loopily paranoid, and I say that as a professional paranoic (system administrator). I've met Microsoft shills -- a couple of friends and I ran the first Windows Refund Day, after all -- and they're better briefed.

-- Cheers, Chip Salzenberg: "Usenet is not a right." Rick Moen Edward Vielmetti: "Usenet is a right, a left, a jab, The postman hits! You have new mail."