GPL works just great for documentation

Posted Jul 2, 2010 8:43 UTC (Fri) by dd9jn (✭ supporter ✭, #4459)
In reply to: GPL works just great for documentation by liljencrantz
Parent article: Two GCC stories

Right. The GPL is just fine for documentation. If you want to print a book it is easy to glue a CDROM into it or put in the required written promise to deliver the source code/text. The FDL has been forced on the GNU maintainers without a ny valid reasons; only a few of them silently refused to do that and keep on using the GPL for docs.

to post comments

GPL works just great for documentation

Posted Jul 9, 2010 0:11 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (1 responses)

The problem with "gluing a CD rom in a book" is REAL in the EU, or in the UK at least.

Books, in the UK, are zero-rated for VAT. A typical computer reference book costs £40. On the other hand, a "book plus CD" combo is liable for VAT - at £40 this will be £8.

So any poor sod buying that book is going to get stung for $15 dollars tax for a "freebie" CD :-(

Cheers,
Wol

VAT

Posted Jul 14, 2010 14:24 UTC (Wed) by edmundo (guest, #616) [Link]

You don't have to pay VAT on the whole price of a "book plus CD". You are allowed to apportion the price and pay VAT on just the CD component. However, it's a complication that you may prefer to avoid.