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Date:      Wed, 16 Jan 2002 10:33:48 -0700
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        "'emailrob' spellberg" <emailrob@emailrob.com>, FreeBSD Chat List <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: FreeBSDmall vs Daemonnews mall
Message-ID:  <4.3.2.7.2.20020116102625.01e4f880@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <3C45A713.860AA45@emailrob.com>
References:  <3C459893.44485DA3@emailrob.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20020116085240.01c9e3e0@localhost>

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At 09:15 AM 1/16/2002, 'emailrob' spellberg wrote:

>the idea is to eliminate refugee status of the distribution.

The distribution does not have "refugee" status. At least two
companies, possibly more, plan to sell copies. It would be
nice, in fact, if there were more -- as there are for
NetBSD.

>when quality is important, control must be maintained.

Actually, just the opposite is true. That's the entire philosophy
behind open source: that quality results from contributions and
consensus rather than iron-fisted control by one entity.

>bring all of the intellectual property [ os, trademark, etc. ]
>  under one roof.

You are starting to sound like Richard Stallman, whose "Free"
(not!) Software Foundation insists upon owning all of the code
of GNU projects, lock, stock, and barrel. (It's a dramatic
demonstration of hypocrisy; this is the same man who claims that 
software "should not have owners." Hmmm.)

The intellectual property that comprises FreeBSD -- in particular,
the code -- is owned by hundreds of different parties. It will
never be "under one roof." The trademark, however, should be owned
by a neutral party, not by one which might have a motivation to
exclude others. 

>different types of "customer" then have a reliable supplier.

FreeBSD isn't a commercial venture. It's inappropriate for it to
be concerned with "customers." Sellers of disks should be concerned
with their customers, but the project should not favor any of them.
To allow one seller to hold the FreeBSD trademark is inappropriate
and could be greatly damaging to the project.

--Brett Glass


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