Draft of LUG letter

Arthur Ogawa ogawa@teleport.com
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 10:02:21 -0800


Kaja P. Christiansen wrote:

>  Art wrote:
>  > 1. LUGs to pay...about $1 per CD.
> 
> Is the price of $1 realistic? ($5 per copy was mentioned recently, have I
> misunderstood it?)

It is good to discuss how much lugs should pay for TeX Live CDs, as distinct
from members purchasing extra copies.

I would like to be guided by past practice here. Sebastian, with TL3, did not
Dante, GUTenberg, and NTG pay cost? What about other lugs?

I believe the $5 price may have been mentioned in connection with TUG members'
extra copies. I want to keep that discussion separate from this one.

>  > 2. LUG to distribute the CD only to its members. Other people should 
>  > contact TUG for their copies.

> *If* TUG will allow for a distribution to non-members, perhaps LUG
> should be allowed to do the same, on the same conditions.

I would agree, and at present TUG is not discussing selling the CD to
non-members, so...

>  > 3. The CD is freely copyable by the recipient; recipients of those copies are
>  > not restricted from further copying.

> ... as long as it is not for profit

...or to use the CD as a draw for commercial offerings (per Peter Deutsch).

Yes, there are numerous conditions that must be placed on the redistribution
of the CD, so I tend to want TUG to take on the burden of handling these
stickier matters. That's what I'm here for.

I anticipate that Dante, GUTenberg, UKTug, NTG, etc. may come up with concepts
for further distribution. I propose to handle these on a case-by-case basis.

-- 
Art