Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 12:53:30 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: 'emailrob' spellberg <emailrob@emailrob.com> Cc: FreeBSD Chat List <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FreeBSDmall vs Daemonnews mall Message-ID: <3C45E84A.1BCB4F09@mindspring.com> References: <3C459893.44485DA3@emailrob.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20020116085240.01c9e3e0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20020116102625.01e4f880@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20020116113905.01ccea60@localhost> <3C45DAF7.71E1B794@emailrob.com>
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'emailrob' spellberg wrote: > my original question is: > why can't the foundation create a sales arm, > be that reliable supplier and > keep the margin for itself? Right now, there are a number of CDROM vendors who have expressed an interest in creating FreeBSD CDROMs, but there are a number of hurdles in their way. The first hurdle is the use of the trademark. Assuming the trademark is transferred to the FreeBSD Foundation, as was promised, I think that there would be a serious conflict of interest for anyone holding the trademark and also making a distribution of the code. This has been demonstrated in the past by defining "what is FreeBSD?" narrowly enough that the definition was constrained to a CDROM image that was produced by a single vendor, and could not be distributed in its entirety by another vendor (though it was), due to the risk of compilation copyright and file copyright on several files (the vendor in question, "CheapBytes", accepted this risk, which was their option, but it wasn't a common choice). Right now, also, the Foundation must work to maintain its non-profit status, which is subject to audit. Failure to act in accordance with its article of incorporation, or the claims that have resulted in the non-profit status in the first place would be a problem. I think that the safest arrangement would be an independent business organization, which *chose* to donate all profits that it could, to the FreeBSD Foundation. In any case, it's unlikely that you will see a distribution by the FreeBSD Foundation, IMO, unless it is a one-off sent out to universities and high schools, in furtherance of the FreeBSD Foundation charter. In any case, it would not be "for profit", since it could not be. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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