Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 12:22:48 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@americantv.com>, jkh@zippy.cdrom.com, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Distributions: Leveling the playing field Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.19990913120027.04ae8e10@localhost> In-Reply-To: <199909131750.MAA07240@free.pcs> References: <local.mail.freebsd-chat/19990913164349$6380@fish.pcs>
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At 12:50 PM 9/13/99 -0500, Jonathan Lemon wrote: >Ah, yes, now I think that we've reached the core of the problem that >Brett is having. If I understand him correctly, he wants to be able >to leverage off the FreeBSD name. Not so much "leverage off" -- if I wanted to "leverage off" a big name, I'd want to use Linux, since it's so much bigger. But I would want to IDENTIFY it as being built on top of FreeBSD. This would make it clear that it would be compatible with software written for FreeBSD, benefiting everyone: the project, which would get credit and more native software; the consumer, who wants things to be compatible; and the product, which wouldn't be mistaken for a totally different beast. > Creating a new distribution with >a new name wouldn't allow him to make use of the mindshare behind the >FreeBSD project, and might lead to the perception of another schism >in the *BSD camp. It's the latter, to my way of thinking, that would be the big problem. As an advocate of BSD UNIX in general, the last thing I would want to do is create is the perception that the BSDs were fragmenting still more! Also, to create a new fork would waste resources that could be used to improve the existing "trident." >Isn't there some way that we can come up with a labeling which would >explicitly allow the various offshoots of FreeBSD to identify themselves >with the project, while making it clear that they are separate efforts? I've proposed exactly this to Jordan in private e-mail. In essence, what I have proposed is to continue the practices which Walnut Creek and Cheap Bytes are already following. The name "FreeBSD" by itself should be reserved for products derived solely from a master release, without add-ons. (Inclusion of the ports and packages would, naturally, be optional.) But other software products that include at least a certain amount of FreeBSD could use the name "FreeBSD" as PART of their names. This is what Walnut Creek does: it sells a software/book package called "The Complete FreeBSD" and a software-only "FreeBSD Toolkit." Books and seminars on FreeBSD wouldn't have to include software to use the name, though I anticipate that they most often would. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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