Date: 23 Jan 2002 22:28:04 -0800 From: swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen) To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Intaller (was "Re: ... RedHat ...") Message-ID: <9sit9s9saz.t9s@localhost.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <3C4F69AD.38A01F0D@mindspring.com> References: <20020123114658.A514@lpt.ens.fr> <20020123091107.T32624-100000@localhost> <20020123124025.A60889@HAL9000.wox.org> <4.3.2.7.2.20020123180421.01d7b220@localhost> <3C4F69AD.38A01F0D@mindspring.com>
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Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> writes: > Brett Glass wrote: > > Who is attempting to enforce such absurdly tight restrictions > > on the use of the FreeBSD trademark? Certainly, there should be > > an ability to offer one's own installer, as is true with NetBSD. > > Brett, don't be a troll. You know very well. It's not like > this is a new audience for the gripe. The gripe is new to me, so I guess that makes this a new audience. On the assumption that the trademark should be in the hands of some non-profit group or that it should be treated as if it were, I'm not sure what conditions SHOULD be placed on the use of the trademark. The loosest conditions are simply that the trademark owner be acknowledged in certain uses such as advertising and CD boxes; the only reason being to prevent someone else from owning the mark and applying Draconian conditions. But there are other conditions which an organization could reasonably, if controversially, impose. 1) Various levels of conformity so people know what "FreeBSD" means and what they're getting when they get the OS. This allows books and documnetation to be written without all kinds of confusion as in the Linux world. 2) Various arbitrary selections of software or designs simply to please the organization leadership or to avoid competition from money-making value-adders. It's quite reasonable for a trademark-owning organization to 100% specify what their mark may be applied to. I think it should be possible to allow some leeway in FreeBSD distributions without causing Linux-like mass confusion, but I'm sure opinions vary widely as to what that should be. Perhaps some requirement for using a standard installer and other standard software, or more likely, a requirement for proper notice of deviations from a standard. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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