[advocacy-discuss] [osol-discuss] Project Indiana and the OpenSolaris name

[ken mays]

Based on some last comments:

1. Set user expectations on what the user is actually
getting in this "OpenSolaris Developer preview 1"
distro.

2. Give a name that 'just makes sense' to the general
population to easily identify it as a openSolaris
product or distro. SXDE++ or 'Sunbeam' may confuse
people...

3. How to update "the product" and from where?? All of
this is in notes and pages somewhere, but this should
be easy on the user as pushing buttons.

4. Naming and Trademarks. Well, we posted some updates
to this trademark issue but most people give names to
their products. But if I use "GNU/OpenSolaris", based
on "Indiana" or "OpenSolaris" then I hope we just have
a common understanding that those references are
allowable and not violate any legal trademark laws (as
long as certain rules are met)..

This sounds easy if you sit down and think about it.
But, I think there is an issue about mid-to-high level
"Sun" managers dictating on the core distro versus a
true independent distro provider going off and doing
its own thin and not be held accountable to any "foot
& hand voting" rules or Sun "management" other than
the common 'community' mindshare based on calling
something "Indiana-based", "Indiana-compatible",  or
"based on OpenSolaris technology".

I'd think Sun management is here to only provide
guidance and not really to provide dictatorship...
(aka "mother, may I?? - Yes, you may...").

~ Ken Mays









---------------------------
On 31/10/2007, Ceri Davies <ceri at submonkey.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2007 at 03:32:23PM -0500, Shawn
Walker wrote:
> > On 31/10/2007, Alan Burlison
<Alan.Burlison at sun.com> wrote:
> > > Shawn Walker wrote:
> > >
> > > >>> I just realized the above has lost some
context, so just to
 be
> > > >>> clear...  When I say "push" above, I'm
referring only to the
> > > >>> naming of the today's release. I aware
there's a plan in the
> > > >>> works to have a vote on trademark policy
aimed at future
 naming
> > > >>> decisions.
> > > >> What will be the point of having a vote on
something that is a
 fait
> > > >> accompli?
> > > >
> > > > How do you know it is until we vote? If we
vote and it isn't
 approved
> > > > but they still go forward, then you can say
that.
> > >
> > > They've already made the naming announcement,
and there has been
 no
> > > announcement of a vote.  How is that *not* a
fait accompli?
> >
> > That's a rather fatalistic view.
> >
> > To me, I didn't see a naming announcement. What I
saw was a project
> > going forward with an early prototype having chose
a tentative name
> > for it until the community gets their collective
posteriors in gear
> > and makes a final decision.
>
> The next section of the railroad will inevitably be
the position that
> calling the final release anything other than
"OpenSolaris" will
 merely
> confuse those who downloaded "OpenSolaris Developer
Preview", so to
 my
> mind it is fait accompli; on release, Indiana will
be called
 OpenSolaris
> come what may.

I think the existence of a distribution that has
OpenSolaris in it's
name is a foregone conclusion; our users have already
made that
conclusion.

The only thing left to be decided is how that name can
be used and
whether Indiana can represent it.

There final outcome of this could be that it gets
renamed "OpenSolaris
Indiana" and all other distributions can use the name
as well given
certain restrictions.


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