From owner-freebsd-chat Wed Mar 15 17:11: 7 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in (theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in [144.16.71.20]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id D25FA37BA1C for ; Wed, 15 Mar 2000 17:09:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in) Received: (qmail 10257 invoked by uid 211); 16 Mar 2000 01:08:32 -0000 Received: from localhost (sendmail-bs@127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 16 Mar 2000 01:08:32 -0000 Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 06:38:32 +0530 (IST) From: Rahul Siddharthan To: Brett Glass Cc: Doug Barton , freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Merger, and what will its effects be on committers? In-Reply-To: <4.2.2.20000315174932.03efa380@localhost> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > > > No; the FreeBSD Project should do exactly the same thing. Anyone should > > > be able to call their product FreeBSD; > > > > This one statement alone shows that you are a complete > >crack-smoker and not to be taken seriously. > > I see. In that case, I take it that you believe that only Walnut Creek > should be able to use the name "FreeBSD" in a product name? As an ordinary user not at all associated with FreeBSD development, I find both positions uncomfortable. Obviously not anyone should be allowed to use the FreeBSD trademark: it would then cease to have value as a trademark. If Brett insists that anyone should unconditionally be allowed to use it, one can only suspect his motives. On the other hand, it is a legitimate question whether someone who adds on a new installer, or some graphical tools for system administration, or whatever, but leaves the basic OS unchanged, can continue to distribute it under the name FreeBSD. I believe that they should be allowed to do so, if their product satisfies some compatibility conditions which should be clearly laid out. Apparently some core members who've been contributing on this thread agree with the above; others think that such packagers can call their product SomethingelseBSD and leave FreeBSD for only WC/BSDI. Perhaps others would not even allow the BSD name to be used. Personally I think restricting the FreeBSD name excessively may be as dangerous as letting it loose altogether; and I also think that if FreeBSD continues to grow, this question will arise sooner rather than later. Just my 2p. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message