Licensing Needed for this Endeavor?

[ckildegaard]

Hey. I'm looking to start an online business (which could be reached by voicemail as well) selling computers preloaded and pre-configured with Linux. It would be a one-man show out of my house in Oakland, California. I'm currently 15. Does anybody know what licensing, if any, is needed for this? It would be a very small venture, and I doubt that it would make enough to pay all of my expenses once I move out and go to college. If in it's first year it were to make $2000 I would be VERY surprised. I'm sure this is gonna start out slow. Just looking for advice on the red tape for basically an online store. Thanks.

[Southern_Lenders]

It might depepend on what form of 'nix your running. I know some are paid and some are open source versions...check with an attorney on that. You don't want to be sued for copyright infringment or anything like that, but the websites for linux should have a terms and conditions page..

Also people who even KNOW what linux IS are probably tech savy enough to know how to instal linux themselves.

[ckildegaard]

As far as I know, even paid Linux is Open Source, it's just that you're getting a package with some extra features that you are paying for. I'm not talking about software licenses, but rather business licenses (state regulations, etc.)

Well I will obviously have to do some promotional work for Linux itself, but I'll betcha that if Windows users hear that they can buy a computer that allows them to stop worrying about viruses, gives them more flexibility, allows them to get software for free, and keeps them from having to pay a lot to upgrade their system, I think some of them will go for it.

[Southern_Lenders]

A lot of windows users are aware of linux but don't want to change for many reasons. Brand loyalty, old habits, 99% of the hardware and software on the market is ment to run on windows, most games dont run on linux, and I don't know about this one, but if something goes wrong with my HP, I can call customer support...if linux is free, who's going to be there to answer the phone when sh-t gets f---ed up ?

Your either a mac head, windows user or hacker.

I've known about linux and unix for years and even had a few versions: redhat, ubuntu, Suse, and I think mandrake, but never kept them for long. I've never even owned my own apple computer dispite the cult following. The fact apple does't have a double click mouse annoys me greatly..I find the enviroment difficult.

Your best chance at this is to find small and medium sized businesses with an IT department and sell your idea to them. The average person at home wont be interested in this...just my honest opinion.

[mbolton2181]

It depends on the type of licenses. You need a brand of linux that is free licenses even in commercial settings. I recommend CentOS, Ubuntu, Mepis..

[ckildegaard]

Well I'm asking not about whether Linux is viable, I can try this with minimal risk and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. What I want to know is the actual government regulations considering online businesses of this type.

[ckildegaard]

I have the software package figured out. I don't know if I'd be able to HANDLE commercial settings because they usually need bulk orders, which is something I don't have the time for. But in any case, open source is open source. You can deploy pretty much ANY Linux distribution on as many computers as you want. No problem there.