Re: [Debian-sf-devel] some thoughts about name and other

[Roland Mas]

Soon-Son Kwon (2002-03-26 12:21:48 +0900) :

> Today I could install the newest 2.6.X package via dselect
> and found that it still contains the following statements in most pages:
>
> ---
[...]
> ---
>   
> As many of us know that former "VA Linux Systems" changed their name
> to "VA software" officially and they are focusing on sourceforge...
>
> I read that they may release sourceforge open edition some day from
> debian-sf homepage but I don't think anybody know the exact date and
> not sure if it will actually happen or not.

Well, judging by the way they answer queries and questions (i.e. not
at all), I think we can safely assume they won't release it in the
foreseeable future.  I consider this to be a shame, but that is
personal judgement.

> I am not saying that they should open their souce code now or they
> should change their license back to GPL-like one.  I do respect
> their big contribution to open source/free software community by
> running sourceforge so far and wish them prosper much more than now.

  Of course we cannot ask that they switch back to GPL.  We'd like
them to, but that's not the point.  I personnally think switching to
commercial and proprietary was a big mistake, but it's their choice.
And I also have a huge respect for what they did (although some points
of "how they did it" are still a bit obscure to me ;-).

> But I think at least the debian-sf needs to change something....
> Current status may conflict the user because it shows the above
> statement on many pages and even the name & icon at the front page
> is all the same as the original sourceforge.

  I understand it might confuse the user.  However, removing their
copyright info would be bad taste (and it's forbidden by the GPL).
And we haven't made enough changes to claim a significant part of the
copyright.  That may change over time, of course, but it's not the
case yet.

> As I mentioned above, I do want VA prosper & keep running current
> sourceforge... Even if we change the name & statements & icon, we
> can show some big thank-you by including sourceforge icon/link
> somewhere on the front page by default or anything other than
> that...  

  Hm.  That sounds like a good idea.  I think we could replace the
current footer with our own.  It could be shorter (one line max, to
save some screen space), and contain a link to a more complete page.
That page could contain the relevant copyright info, including VA and
Debian-SF, a brief history of the project, words of thanks, links to
the original Sourceforge, etc.

> (In doing so, I want to inform you that the current sourceforge icon
> in the debian-sf package and the original one differ...  They
> changed their icon already. :-) )

  Yes, I know.  However, I wouldn't say that the Debian-SF icon and
the original one differ.  Rather, the current sf.net icon and the
original one differ :-)  But since we have no idea what the license of
the new one is (or more precisely there's no license), we cannot use
that new icon.

> I worry this may result in some kind of debate.

  In my opinion, a debate is not a negative thing to have, and I'd
like to have the opinion of several people.

> Because I am not a good speaker nor English is not my mother tongue,
> some of words may sound a little bit aggressive or bold...  if so,
> that's due to my lack of presentation skill.  I tried to be polite
> as much as I can...

  We're all hackers, we know that content is more imortant than
presentation :-) In any case, don't worry, you didn't sound aggressive
to me.

> Thank you very much.

  You're welcome.

Roland.
-- 
Roland Mas

A lesson for you all: never fall in love during a total eclipse.
  -- Senex, in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum