Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 21:38:58 +0100 From: Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Doug Barton <Doug@gorean.org> Cc: Paul Richards <paul@originative.co.uk>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Merger, and what will its effects be on committers? Message-ID: <v04220810b4f30063ef1e@[195.238.24.123]> In-Reply-To: <4.2.2.20000313131120.041d91f0@localhost> References: <4.2.2.20000313111904.041e0c00@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313103859.0410fe30@localhost> <4.2.2.20000312160425.00b16e80@localhost> <Pine.LNX.4.20.0003112034290.431-100000@theory8.physics.iisc.ernet.in> <4.2.2.20000312122651.00b1e880@localhost> <4.2.2.20000312144558.04190e80@localhost> <4.2.2.20000312160425.00b16e80@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313103859.0410fe30@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313111904.041e0c00@localhost> <4.2.2.20000313131120.041d91f0@localhost>
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At 1:23 PM -0700 2000/3/13, Brett Glass wrote: > Was the Core Team consulted about this? No, not at all. Remember, > Walnut Creek owned the trademark. It didn't need to. Consider that the bulk of the FreeBSD Core Team probably works for Walnut Creek, and there is likely to be no conflict here. Of course, Walnut Creek/BSD, Inc. is doing the Right Thing by transferring the Trademark to the FreeBSD Foundation (and it use will be governed by the FreeBSD Core Team until then), but this fact does not create a problem in the past when there was none at the time. > Let's suppose, just for example, that Walnut Creek had no previous > association with FreeBSD and wanted to put out the "FreeBSD Power Pak" > today. Would it want to reveal its product plans in advance, and/or > have the FreeBSD Core Team design its product for it? It would presumably reveal its plans to the FreeBSD Core Team/FreeBSD Foundation, just like everyone else. By giving them enough detail to convince them that the FreeBSD trademark will be properly recognized and utilized in the resulting product, presumably the FreeBSD Core Team/FreeBSD Foundation would give their approval to the use of the trademark. > This is not reasonable. After all, many consumers would like > an x86-specific disc which doesn't contain the Alpha stuff, > especially if this reduced the cost of the product or allowed > more features to be added. Speaking as the FreeBSD Release Engineer, and as a member of the FreeBSD Core Team, I suspect that Jordan's statement is pretty much final. Anybody who wants to ship something with the FreeBSD trademark associated with it will need to include at the very least the same four standard ISO images that he produces and makes available for anyone who wants to download them and burn them with a writer. If you can't live with this restriction, then go create your own version of BSD and quit wasting our time. > The four CD-ROMs shipped by Walnut Creek contain far more > than the FreeBSD Project's output. Even the first disc > contains some programs which are not generated by the FreeBSD > Project (e.g. FIPS). Obviously you didn't even bother reading what I wrote. More stuff is okay. They just can't include anything less than the four standard ISO images that Jordan produces. > Also, a product produced by Walnut Creek should not set the > "standard" for another company; otherwise, competitors will > have their product design dictated by Walnut Creek. Until now, since Walnut Creek has owned the FreeBSD trademark, they could do pretty much whatever they wanted with it, and there's no amount of bitching and whining you can do that will help. Going forward, the FreeBSD Core Team/FreeBSD Foundation will have control over what happens with the FreeBSD trademark, and they can determine the minimum acceptable standards to which all players will have to adhere -- and Walnut Creek/BSD, Inc. will have to play by those same rules, just like everyone else. If you can't live with that fact, I suggest you go somewhere else and quit wasting our time. -- These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy ====================================================================== Brad Knowles, <blk@skynet.be> || Belgacom Skynet SA/NV Systems Architect, Mail/News/FTP/Proxy Admin || Rue Colonel Bourg, 124 Phone/Fax: +32-2-706.13.11/12.49 || B-1140 Brussels http://www.skynet.be || Belgium To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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