[advocacy-discuss] The OpenSolaris "Attitude"

[Jim Grisanzio]

Martin Bochnig wrote:
> Ian Collins wrote:
>> Jim Grisanzio wrote:
>>   
>>> Yep. The Solaris brand is strong. That's the reason we used it to name 
>>> OpenSolaris. :)
>>>
>>>   
>>>     
>> But how about the converse? 
>>
>> Part of the strength of the Linux brand is it's ubiquity.  Just about
>> every major distribution call its self "Bla [enterprise] Linux".  We
>> don't see that with OpenSolaris.  Every OpenSolaris distribution has its
>> own name, even Sun's distributions use the Solaris rather than
>> OpenSolaris brand.
>>
>> There has to be a better way of associating the brand with the
>> distributions.
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>   
> 
> Is anybody except JAVA actually permitted to use that brand?
> If so, most distros would certainly have done that ...
> 
> http://opensolaris.org/os/trademark/
> "Without a trademark license, you may not use Solaris or OpenSolaris in 
> the name of your distribution, or any product, service or company name."


I think this is a tough issue. I certainly have no answer for it since I 
don't do branding and trademarks (and for good reason since I suck at 
it). However, I would hope that the brand reflects the culture and grows 
/from/ the culture, not the other way around. That's why I think we can 
have the culture and attitude conversation separate from the brand 
issue. Am I wrong?

Jim
-- 
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris