[olug] Barracuda violating GPL & Doctrine of First Sale?

[Jennifer Frasier]

First of all, the "all you liberals" guy actually called Rush Limbaugh, Bill
O'Reilly, and Shawn Hannity "political philosophers" instead of political
pundits. I'm still laughing. I'm left to wonder whether he is trying to
elevate them to the level of, say, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Reausseau,
or if he's just using the wrong term. A poltiical philosopher is someone who
argues what the best form of government is, not someone who argues stances
on political views.

I'm not even going to try to answer your question about how it relates to
the GPL because I don't know anything about it (not a developer), but I do
feel that it should be a violation of something. The terms were not clear.

A friend of mine bought a laptop about a year and a half ago that came with
Windows Vista. He, of course, immediately installed Ubuntu. After a while,
he began to have a problem with his DVD writer. It was clearly a physical
problem with the hardware. He called the manufacturer about his warranty. He
was told to reinstall Vista and it would work. He argued with them over it,
but in the end, had no recourse. The best compromise they would offer is
that he could install XP instead. They did not have to honor his warranty if
he wasn't running the "recommended" OS, which, to them, meant Windows. So,
even when you own the hardware, agreements can be invalidated based on your
software (don't ask me how that makes sense). You don't get what you pay for
anymore, and it just sucks.

On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 9:27 PM, Sam Tetherow <tetherow at shwisp.net> wrote:

> Not sure how their refusal to sell support to someone unless they buy
> direct from them is a violation of the GPL.  The updates are effectively
> support not goods.  You can resell a Barracuda and there is nothing they
> can do about it.  But they can refuse to sell you a support contract.
>
> Now is this good business practice, I sure don't think so, If they need
> to sell you the overpriced hardware to make up for the annual support
> they really need to re-evaluate their pricing.    I was looking at
> getting a Barracuda at one point, but this is one of the reasons I ended
> up going with Postini instead.
>
> They are basically telling their customers that we want to lock you in
> to our service with no economical way to get out.  While from a
> financial standpoint this may seem to make sense, when it comes to
> dealing with people you want to give them a low-cost exit strategy and
> decent customer support.  People will try a service if they feel it
> isn't going to be too painful to back out if it doesn't work.  If you
> don't suck, a good percentage will stick with you because you are in
> place and working.  On the flip side I am much less likely to give you a
> try if I have some large non-refundable up front expense.  This is the
> other reason I went with Postini, my reseller offered me the first month
> free to test it out all I had to do was pay a $50 setup fee.
>
>        Sam Tetherow
>        Sandhills Wireless
>
>
>
> OBrien, Timothy wrote:
> > Barracuda Sneakwrap has a Nasty Bite
> > http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2008/6/3/0529/41400
> >
> > Interesting read on a product that is built on GPL software - according
> to
> > Barracuda's ToS, you will not get support for second hand purchased
> > equipment. From the article & threads, it is noted that this is possibly
> a
> > violation of the GPL & Doctrine of First Sale?
> >
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> >
> > (also note the flame war in the threads aimed towards "all you
> > liberals"... cue the ROFLcopter!)
> >
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
"Droll thing life is - that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a
futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself
- that comes too late - a crop of unextinguishable regrets."
- Joseph Conrad from Heart of Darkness