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  • From: "Andrew \"ruskie\" Levstik" <ruskie AT mages.ath.cx>
  • To: sm-discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Something of interest from GrokLaw
  • Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 10:30:11 +0200

Here's a quote from an interesting comment on GrokLaw
----
The Linux® Trademark - Tempest in a Teapot
Authored by: Malor on Tuesday, August 16 2005 @ 11:23 AM EDT
I've been using Linux for a very, very long time, (somewhere in the 0.8
kernel series) and I
disagree completely that the anger is unfounded.

A non-profit usage of the Linux trademark should be $1/year, payable in
advance for a
20-year term. It is just wrong to soak people who want to release GPL distros
for $200 year.
Talk about a slap in the face... doing all the work to build a distro for a
specific
purpose, but not being able to call it Linux without coughing up? That is a
pile of crap.

I'd have no problem whatsoever with charging for-profit distros, like, say,
Mandrake or Red
Hat. And perhaps there should be a special mark for those who voluntarily
choose to send in
some extra money.

But the word Linux, while it can't be 100% free because of trademark law,
should be licensed
for the cheapest possible fee. I'm suggesting the $20 minimum, but even that
might be too
high. What if some guy in China who makes 25 cents a day wants to call HIS
product Linux and
distribute it in Australia? $20 would be a real hardship...$200 is totally
unworkable.

Folks in Australia are right to be upset. The kernel itself, as Richard
Stallman is so fond
of reminding us, is only a very small portion of the overall system. The rest
of userspace
has inherited the kernel's name, more or less by default. A full, running
Linux system has
an absolutely huge amount of code in it that Linus didn't write, didn't
manage, and isn't
responsible for. Claiming a $200 toll just for writing the kernel is
absolutely
unreasonable.

I have steadfastly refused to use the term GNU/Linux, but for the first time,
I'm seriously
reconsidering that.
----

--
Andrew "ruskie" Levstik
Source Mage GNU/Linux Games grimoire guru

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