Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 18:42:37 -0500 (CDT) From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Offensive figures (wa: Why?) Message-ID: <14685.12397.951661.683992@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <bulk.66188.20000630143955@hub.freebsd.org> References: <bulk.66188.20000630143955@hub.freebsd.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> From: Gerd Knops <gerti@bitart.com> > I have to agree. There are some cultures on this planet where images > like the FreeBSD logo are not acceptable. Period. Distributing a > FreeBSD system in such a country using the daemon as sreen saver or > sticker on the PC would be in very poor taste. So while I like that > little daemon, in the interest of marketing FreeBSD throughout the > world it is not a wise choice of a logo. Choose an arbitrary image (or name). There are probably cultures where it's unacceptable. Unless you go with something totally abstract, that is. Even then, words can get you in trouble if they happen to be offensive in some other lanuguage. Computer related incidents include MS Encarta (was that it?) not shipping to India because the world map it included didn't agree with the official Indian government position on it's borders. Some computer systems have different ROMs - or ROMs that don't use words - for France to comply with their language protection rules. You choose your logo to attract your primary target customer base. If that causes problems elsewhere, you drop it - changing your logo or name as required. For OSS Projects, your primary customer (at least originally) *has* to be hackers (in the original sense of the word). The daemon does a good job of that. If someone wants a distribution targeted for markets where it's offensive, they can build one. The BSD license allows them to distribute it without reference to the original, even. <mike To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?14685.12397.951661.683992>