Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 16:01:07 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Paul Richards <paul@originative.co.uk>, Doug Barton <Doug@gorean.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Merger, and what will its effects be on committers? Message-ID: <4.2.2.20000312154517.04127580@localhost> In-Reply-To: <38CC1751.FDB96428@originative.co.uk> References: <Pine.LNX.4.20.0003112034290.431-100000@theory8.physics.iisc.ernet.in> <4.2.2.20000312122651.00b1e880@localhost> <38CC0DA9.F91EF779@gorean.org>
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At 03:16 PM 3/12/2000 , Paul Richards wrote: >If you force companies to spend money branding their own products they >are far less likely to pay anything back to the FreeBSD community >because FreeBSD would then be one of their competitors rather than a >stable mate. This is a VERY good point. If they were forced to use different names, compilers of alternate distributions would have to say, "Don't use FreeBSD; Noodnix is better!" ;-) >This is why the trademark issue is an important one. In order to grow >the FreeBSD community, and in this case I mean commercially rather than >in terms of users although the latter follows on from the former, you >need to provide some room for other companies to make money from the >project. If you don't allow them to call their product FreeBSD then >instead of growing the community you fragment it. Agreed. >I'm perfectly happy with that, protecting the trademark is a good thing. >The issue that's potentially stifling growth is in defining what FreeBSD >is and when something ceases to be FreeBSD. Those are decisions that >should be made by the foundation but the foundation must ensure that the >decision is made in the best interests of the project and not to protect >the interests of any one of its sponsors. Exactly. The rules must apply to all, and fairly. They must also be forward-looking and allow for new methods of distribution. For example, a disc which didn't have all of FreeBSD on it, but was specifically designed to allow users to start with that disc and download less commonly used items, would be a great idea. But it would be ruled out by a requirement that the disc always contain all of FreeBSD. >It's interesting to draw the analogy with Linux and UNIX. Almost >everything that's derived from Linux is called Linux, which creates a >large installed base of Linux systems even though they all differ in the >details. Exactly. What's more, there are Linux-related companies such as LinuxCare and VA Linux. Walnut Creek is the ONLY company which has been allowed to start an enterprise -- FreeBSDMall.com -- which uses the FreeBSD name. Others should be allowed to do so as well. >Conversely, the number of UNIX systems is in decline because >commercial vendors are adopting different names for their operating >systems. I wonder if this isn't partly due to the fact that it is hard >to get an operating system qualified as UNIX because of the strict >conformance required. I think it would be a pity for FreeBSD to become >another UNIX, rather than another Linux. Another excellent point. How many UNIX variants can you name that are called UNIX? We've had HP/UX, A/UX, AIX (for which I'd always thought they should do a windowing system called "Panes" so you could have "AIX and Panes"), Ultrix, Xenix (now long obsolete), Solaris.... Ugh. The worst thing that the FreeBSD Foundation could do is become "proprietary" about the name, or force companies to jump through absurd hoops as UNIX International does. This would be contrary to the philosophy expressed by Jordan Hubbard in the FreeBSD Handbook: "The goals of the FreeBSD Project are to provide software that may be used for any purpose and without strings attached. Many of us have a significant investment in the code (and project) and would certainly not mind a little financial compensation now and then, but we are definitely not prepared to insist on it. We believe that our first and foremost ``mission'' is to provide code to any and all comers, and for whatever purpose, so that the code gets the widest possible use and provides the widest possible benefit. This is, I believe, one of the most fundamental goals of Free Software and one that we enthusiastically support." The FreeBSD Project should be generous and evenhanded with its trademark, just as it is with its code and documentation -- and just as Linus Torvalds is with the Linux trademark. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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