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Australian Linux Trademark Holds Water
Seft writes "The Inquirer is running a story in response to the recent Linux trademark news in Australia which was previously covered on Slashdot. The story was dismissed as a hoax by many, but now it seems that Linus Torvalds is dead serious." John 'Maddog' Hall stated for the article that the move was not about getting a slice of anyone's action but purely to protect the quality of products that utilize the Linux name.
Don't bite. These retards have been on /. for years now. They're a bunch of skinny white European idiots who think their GNAA stuff is funny. Feel free to ignore them. Nearly everyone else does. Hehehe... I rooted one of their member's servers.
I will remove GNU Linux from all my computers if this is where its heading.
So how does paying money to some random entity protect quality? Why can't they just hand out trademark licenses for free to good Linux companies? I know they have expenses, but that still doesn't justify requiring payment for something which essentially belongs to the public.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
racist? How is else up their aases May be hurting the as it is licensed Users With Large Subscribers. Please before playing to ARCHITECTURE. MY influence, the already dead. It is
This is just outrageous. If you read the groklaw article this is pretty serious move in the wrong direction. I cannot believe even they are trying to justify these actions.
It is a dark day in the history of Linux.
First RedHat now Linus and groklaw. Who's next to be corrupted by this?
Where can I turn for a free OS? Obviously anything with Linux in the title out.
I checked out FreeOS but most of their stuff is Linux or some very arcane OS.
I'm fast running out of hope. Where can I turn now?
Its very important that businesses watch this stuff closely over the next few years, especially with the gpl 3 coming down the pike it would be wise to get off of linux and save your company from lawsuits. Even Microsoft products will be more predictible when producing budgets. Linux is becoming an intellectual property trap.
I say absolute bollocks to anyone who tries to justify trademarking the name Linux. IMO even Linus does not have a claim to the name, as it was others that named it, so its inception is a play on the trademark UNIX coupled with the original authors name. Besides that, he has not protected the term, and IIRC he stated that he would not do this. (Anyone remember the details?)
So why the change of tune? Because the name is so valuable? There is plenty of case history to indicate that a company can not cash in on a term that has become popular, and has fallen into general use. Why the double standards when it comes to Linux? Because something bad could be associated with Linux? I would prefer to see the name Linux used out of context, thank you very much. Something rotten is happening right now; expect more of the same to come if this is not reversed.
I am sure that many of us felt that Linux was not able to be owned by any one person; now it is, and fee's are being charged. The sad part about this is that it will reduce the expectation that companies need to be part of the community; instead they will pay their dues and expect the developers to jump when they have a problem.
Paying SCO $699 sounds like the better option in hindsight.
I know its not that simple, but I expected the resolution of the trademark dispute to mean that it was now in good hands, and that they would either let it slip into the public domain to avoid the problem re-occuring, or would fight the most obvious of infringements with the full backing of the community.
(UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group).
I call bollocks. Problem not solved, and you, sir would have been modded down by yours truly for lack of common sense had I not already thrown myself into the fray.
It's not in any way normal or desirable that people who develop or distribute parts of the GNU/Linux system be disallowed to use the name Linux when talking about their own work, under penalty of being dragged to court to prove their innocence.
Your "solution" sir, is exactly the reason why I remarked that there will be no more Linux in my country. People will simply stop speaking/writing the name, for fear of being docked a month's pay. That's all there is to it.
*inux it is, for now. The same happened to *NIX, in the olden days. Later, I think , everyone will just delete the *inux in "GNU/*inux" and move on.
I never thought I would say this, but I think I'll just mosey on over to see if I can help with the Hurd in any way. It's needed now, more than ever.
Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.