Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 13:34:12 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be>, "Matthew N. Dodd" <winter@jurai.net> Cc: Doug Barton <Doug@gorean.org>, Paul Richards <paul@originative.co.uk>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Merger, and what will its effects be on committers? Message-ID: <4.2.2.20000313132347.041d25a0@localhost> In-Reply-To: <v04220808b4f2e572befc@[195.238.24.123]> References: <4.2.2.20000313110822.03d71ee0@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313103859.0410fe30@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313110822.03d71ee0@localhost>
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At 11:46 AM 3/13/2000 , Brad Knowles wrote: >> Part of the BSD philosophy is that anyone should be able to take the project's >> IP and use it for any purpose. > > Code, yes. IP, no. If they allowed you to take any of their IP and use it for whatever you want, then it would be in the "public domain", and there would be no such thing as a BSD license. Not true. The primary reason for the BSD license is to limit the authors' exposure to liability problems. However, it allows the code to be used in any way one desires. >> I don't want to hurt FreeBSD. If I ship a product which doesn't have the >> FreeBSD name on it, it will hurt FreeBSD and in fact all of the BSDs >> by giving the Linux zealots the opportunity to claim that the BSDs are >> fragmenting rather than consolidating. > > I don't think there's anything you need to worry about here. The members of the FreeBSD Core Team and the FreeBSD Foundation won't lose any sleep at night because you are not allowed to call your product "Brett's x86-only no-EIDE/ATA laptop-specific customized FreeBSD", or whatever the heck it is you want to call it. No, but they'll find that the Linux PR Machine will generate vast amounts of negative PR that *will* hurt them. A lot. > The people at BSD, Inc. are going to be the ones concerned with the image of the BSD family as a whole, and I'm sure that they'll give you all the help they can. Not so. BSD, Inc. will be a competitor of any alternative distribution. While it would be nice to see "coop-etition," or in fact to see them selling the alternative distribution too, one can never assume that it would occur. And it is certainly unreasonable to take it as a given that they would give "all the help they can." > However, BSD, Inc != FreeBSD Core Team/FreeBSD Foundation, and they may well do things that you might otherwise think seem to be at odds with each other. The FreeBSD Foundation will, in fact, have an interest in promoting the development of multiple distributions. If it does not do so, it will indicate that there are conflicts of interest. >> There's also a fundamental issue of fairness which needs to be resolved >> here. If Walnut Creek is allowed to ship products and packages which bear >> the name FreeBSD and which include enhancements and additions to the >> FreeBSD project's output (including whole CD-ROMs of third party software!), >> I (or anyone else) should be able to do so as well. > > I don't think there is a fairness issue here at all. The FreeBSD Core Team (and the FreeBSD Foundation, once it has been created) can do whatever the heck they want with the FreeBSD trademark, and there's little you or I or anyone else can say about it. Not if they're a non-profit foundation. They must accomplish the purposes laid out in their bylaws -- presumably, to promote the proliferation of FreeBSD -- and must do so in an evenhanded manner. If they favor one distributor, they WILL lose their non-profit status. > Myself, I think there *is* a "sour grapes" issue here. There is. A few people, such as Matthew, are declaring that the grapes (the distributions I and others would like to put out) are "sour," sight unseen. > You want to ride on their coat-tails and get the benefit of associating your product (over which the FreeBSD Core Team and FreeBSD Foundation have no control) with their name (which they are required by law to protect, lest it be released into the public domain). Or, depending how you look at it, they'd ride on MY coattails and benefit from the time, money, and effort I invested in marketing, software development, etc. This is what has happened in the Linux world. The rising tide of multiple distributions has floated all boats. > Besides, Jordan has already said that you can produce something that has the FreeBSD name on it, so long as it includes everything on the FreeBSD CD-ROMs. Actually, he said the *first* CD-ROM. But this is still an onerous requirement, because it requires a multiple-CD set when one might otherwise not be needed. And precludes the production of products with an online component that provides parts as needed. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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