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Re: [LUG] Pondering upon Debian

 

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 06:49:08PM +0000, Simon Waters wrote:
> Tom Potts wrote:
> > 
> > But someone has to control the name it otherwise I (or another evil org) could 
> > produce a version of Firefox that was pretty useless.  It would  be wrong to 
> > call it Firefox but your saying that would be OK. 

What a load of rubbish. There are dozens of free-software projects with
trademarked names. None of them are even close to being this paranoid
about their trademarks. Somebody could produce a version of the Linux
kernel that was pretty useless. Nobody actually does, though. I really
don't buy this argument at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trademarked_open_source_software

> No, Mozilla allow Debian to make changes and keep the name, and then
> reverted its stance.
> 
> Sure, Debian could make a really bad version and distribute it in
> Debian, but I'm not sure what the point would be. Or Mozilla could have
> trusted Debian to do the decent thing....
> 
> Just folks was criticizing Debian for changing the name, and now you
> seem to be arguing they had to as well....

If I remember correctly, Mozilla would be happy to give Debian permission
to make and distribute modified versions and keep the name/logo (as they
have with, for example, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, etc.), but not for Debian users.
The DFSG say that if only Debian has the right to make a modified version,
not all Debian users, then it's not free; users need the same rights as
the Debian project.

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 07:33:55AM +0000, Tom Potts wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 March 2008 20:39, Simon Waters wrote:
> > Mozilla corporation asked Debian to choose between the DFSG and using
> > the Mozilla trademarked names, and gave them about 1 month before
> > release of Etch in which to make a decision.
> >
> > So they made the only reasonable decision possible and dropped the names.
> Sorry - but are you suggesting that everybody drops everything for Debian?

Sorry, but are you suggesting that everybody drops everything for Mozilla?
Why should Debian change its policies, that've been around for 10+ years,
just for the benefit of Mozilla (and to the detriment of its users?).
Maybe you're right that Mozilla's policies are perfectly reasonable and
shouldn't be changed. If that's the case, the only possible solution was
renaming and rebranding.

-- 
Benjamin M. A'Lee || mail: bma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: http://subvert.org.uk/~bma/ || gpg: 0xBB6D2FA0
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

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