Gotta love the GPL and ebay...

[Lord Apocalypse]

It seems that there are a ton of open souce projects listed on ebay, including my two favorties Vega Strike and Warzone 2100.. someone is profiting off us all

A developer charging for their own GPL work I can see, but others?? Sad... I don't know if there is anything anyone here can do unless you can see something I missed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WARZONE-2100-RE ... 230c3070c4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warzone-2100-St ... 3a6f79168a

And you thought *MY* idea was bad.

[Per]

A fool and his money are soon parted...

[Lord Apocalypse]

Well, it gets worse. I found one GPL program with the following tag line at the end

This item is copyrighted. Any reproduction, duplication or resale of this item is strictly prohibited. The individual software installers and screenshots are released under the GNU GPL or similar. The licenses are available on the CD-ROM and by request. All other images, items, box image, autorun menus and designs are copyrighted and contain our protected IP.

Needless to say several of these sellers have been forwarded to the fsf to look into, and one may find a cease and desist letter from Electronic Arts for trying to sell a FOSS game using the Privateer name. I just hope that we (Vega Strike community) don't get amu blowback over that..

[Paul]

I thought they could sell GPL licensed products as long as they follow all the guidelines?
There is also the portable version of warzone that they ask for donations and none of the profits are sent to the developers here.
This is why the GPL is flawed.

[NoQ]

I can't say it's a flaw. For instance, Red Hat pretty much lives on this sort of money only, and i don't see anything bad in it.

[Paul]

There is something wrong when other people get financial gain for other people's work.

[cybersphinx]

This is why the GPL is flawed.

I'd say the GPL is fine, people who don't google what they spend money for are flawed.

[Paul]

This is why the GPL is flawed.

I'd say the GPL is fine, people who don't google what they spend money for are flawed.

Is this the stupidity clause?
I still don' think it should be allowed, and they should require full disclosure.

[aubergine]

Yup, it's wrong.

As for RedHat, they bundle support with their linux distro - in effect people are paying for a supported linux distro.

This bloke selling WZ is just a scrote making money of others' work.

[Rman Virgil]

.

The exchange of value here is convenience for the lazy. Nothing unusual about that. It suffuses the global economy, creating jobs that provide for the conspicuous consumption which in turn keeps the wheels of the whole infernal device turning.

What is grossly egregious is where there is no reciprocal exchange of value, aka the draconian, parasitic or exploitive.

This too is common but mostly glossed over in either the collusion of silence, bombastic demogoguery unchecked by critical thinking or some slew of autocratic edicts obfuscating what is but an ego with zero to offer beyond securing the fiefdom of its own fragile & illusory existence.

.

[NoQ]

they bundle support

These guys also say they provide support (?)

[Paul]

Maybe they need to add a info button to the main menu so they can set the record straight?
Those scumbags can't edit the game and sell it, right?

[cybersphinx]

Those scumbags can't edit the game and sell it, right?

"Can" as in "are allowed to" - yes, unless you count removing an in-game website link as "removing credits". "Can" as in "are able to"... if they were, why would they need to profit on others' work?

[Lord Apocalypse]

I thought they could sell GPL licensed products as long as they follow all the guidelines?
There is also the portable version of warzone that they ask for donations and none of the profits are sent to the developers here.
This is why the GPL is flawed.

Most of this has already been answered, but.. Let me go over Privateer again. Privateer is a copyrighted name for an old flight sim released by the now defunct (bought up and close by Electronis Arts I think) developer Origin who also created the Wing Commander franchise. While The game code and some of the art is covered by the GPL, the name Privateer is not licensed to any of the current crop of Privateer clones using the Vega Strike engine. Hence, commercial sales are illegal of anything using the copyrighted name. One of the reasons that Privateer Gemini Gold (the one most widely found on ebay), Privateer Parallel Universe, and Wing Commander Universe (another privateer styled game) cannot have any association with commercial releases.

Legally I think GoG is the only current internet retailer who is able to sell modeified copies (or copies bundled with DOSBox) around. Finding a copy of PGG on ebay and trying to pass it off as Privateer is bad for a lot of people who have spent a very long time trying to recreate the original game in all its glory. For those selling Vega Strike its a annoying non-issue as VS has no copyrighted or trademarked material and everything is GPL. As long as they follow the rules there isn't much that can be done.

Now.. if someone bought a copy and asked for the source code and they refuse.. well thats another story.