Endless OS Redistribution Policy

Preamble

We have made Endless OS available for everyone to download and install for personal use and non-commercial deployments at small scale, and we would love your help in bringing it to more people around the world! Endless OS Foundation’s goal is to deliver access to education to everyone, regardless of means and opportunity, and one powerful way of doing this is to make our software available for anyone who wants or needs it.

We want to make sure everyone gets the best experience with Endless OS, so we’ve made a simple policy around how the OS images can be used. Please read our policy, and if you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to partner with Endless, please get in touch.

Almost all of the software that makes up Endless OS is Free and Open Source Software, and the source code is available through our Developer page.

Endless OS Download, Installation & Redistribution Policy.

Please review the Terms of Use agreement for Endless OS for more information.

Personal & Non-Commercial Use: We encourage you to download and install Endless OS for personal use, or in non-commercial settings such as public, educational or non-profit institutions. You are permitted to install Endless on one or more devices for these purposes. Such installations must be made using pristine, unmodified Endless OS installation methods as detailed on our website; modifications to the install media are not permitted. If your institution is using Endless OS in this way, we request that you let us know about your project on our community forums; knowledge about such projects can contribute to Endless OS Foundation’s sustainability and success, and we may be able to find beneficial ways to work together.
Physical Redistribution: You may redistribute pristine, unmodified copies of Endless OS on physical media such as CD/DVD, USB disk or SD/MMC card. If you wish, you may charge a nominal fee to the end user to defray your costs related to the media. No commercial agreement with Endless is needed, but we do request that you let us know on our community forums.
Online Redistribution: You may redistribute pristine, unmodified copies of Endless OS online by becoming a public mirror or by utilizing our BitTorrent tracker. If you are interested in becoming a mirror, please contact us on our community forums.

Alternative versions of Endless OS

The above redistribution policy covers the downloadable editions of Endless OS, aimed at general-purpose education usage. Alternative versions of Endless OS with additional features and customization options are available. Please contact sales@endlessm.com for more information if you are seeking any of the following:

Commercial use of Endless OS
Pre-installation of Endless OS prior on PCs prior to sale
Large-scale deployments of a specially tailored version of Endless OS

Why are there restrictions around commercial use and modifications to installation media?

As a U.S. 501(c)(4) non-profit focused on social welfare, our tax exemption is restricted to our work on reducing the digital divide. We are legally required to control and measure the private benefit we produce for for-profit enterprises, making appropriate charges and tax payments where necessary.

When individuals are accessing our work, or partners are working on mission-aligned projects, we're able to offer free licenses in support of such efforts. It's easy for us to offer a license for nonprofit organisations so our standard license permits noncommercial use, but when working with commercial entities we need to a more detailed agreement in place to ensure that our social welfare purpose is being promoted and the correct records are being kept.

Modifications to installation media are not permitted as this would interfere with the security and integrity of the OS installation, invalidate the digital signature, and result in users running software which claims to be Endless but does not come from us. However, site-specific, customised installation media can be freely created using the Endless OS Image Builder.

Endless OS is built with open source technologies. It is possible for third parties, including those of a commercial nature, to take Endless OS source code (or components of it), modify/adapt it and build it into other products, while abiding by open source licensing terms and avoiding unauthorised use of Endless’s trademarks. This is somewhat comparable to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux model, where that product is paid and commercial-only, but the source code is freely available, and that has enabled communities such as CentOS to build alternative products around the same technologies.