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Debian Allows Trademark Use For Commercial Activities
sfcrazy writes "According to the new trademark policy, Debian logos and marks may now be used freely for both non-commercial and commercial purposes. Stefano Zacchiroli, current Debian Project Leader and one of the main promoters of the new trademark policy, said 'Software freedoms and trademarks are a difficult match. We all want to see well-known project names used to promote free software, but we cannot risk they will be abused to trick users into downloading proprietary spyware. With the help of SPI and SFLC, we have struck a good balance in our new trademark policy. Among other positive things, it allows all sorts of commercial use; we only recommend clearly informing customers about how much of the sale price will be donated to Debian.'"
Way to go Debian :)
This is definitely a move in the right direction. Unlike the death threats from Intel if you use that sticker that comes in the boxed proc. Have you read that thing?
"That's right...I said it."
Does it actually change anything ?
The widely recognized ("official") logo was already the open one, while nobody uses the "restricted" logo.
The new trademark policy states: You cannot use Debian trademarks in any way that suggests an affiliation with or endorsement by the Debian project or community, if the same is not true.
But the official logo doesn't imply endorsement, that's what the restricted logo does. Or isn't the logo part of Debian's trademark ?
Or is it newspeak for an actual restriction of rights ?
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Bah, they're all crap compared to Plan9.
Dilbert RSS feed
Also known as an Archimedean spiral, who probably also ripped it off from Disney.
c++;
I'll tell you what is "wrong". It is "wrong" for you to use your traveling salesman job as a cover to lurk around the YMCA searching for young boys. Stop buying those boys gifts, stop buying them dinners, and STOP GOBBLING THEIR GOOBERS! You''re a pedophile cocksucker, and you've got to stop. Go, turn yourself in. Plead guilty to anything they offer, and you can finish your days in a prison full of mature men, whose goobers you can gobble. It's the RIGHT thing to do!
Ubuntu to Amazon: may we use your logo?
Debian to Amazon: you may use our logo.
According to Bruce it's the magic smoke:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/01/msg01782.html
Yet another reason that Debian is awesome.
Minus all that ubUnity cruft...
I was in Malaysia once, and a Malaysian Chinese guy explained to me why so many Chinese restaurants there have very basic interiors with very little decoration. Decoration is seen as a sign the restaurant holder focuses on other things than food. Lack of decoration is seen as an indication of quality, the focus is on the food, where it should be. I see the pattern in my own town too, a few Chinese restaurants that mainly attract Chinese guests have the same kind of spartan interior, with fluorescent light, tiles, formica tables, and they have excellent food.
I respond to software in pretty much the same way. I want it to be stable, functional, and I don't want it to distract me from what I'm doing. Wobbly windows, transparent title bars and other forms of bling bling are distracting to me, and they make me feel the focus isn't on making a robust, functional tool but on decorating the tool. Debian, by having a not so nice logo and a simple but functional website, shows that their focus is not on shiny looks. To me that's refreshing, they get to the point instead of distracting me with things that aren't functional. And it fits their purpose: they make a stable OS, not a shiny one.
I can imagine that this actually helps them to keep focused on quality. The people who mistake shiny looks for quality will go somewhere else. If their users don't demand they shift their focus from stability to bling bling they can continue to focus on stability. Other distributions, several based on Debian, can provide the shiny parts for the people who want them.
I want [software] to be stable, functional, and I don't want it to distract me from what I'm doing. Wobbly windows, transparent title bars and other forms of bling bling are distracting to me ... Debian, by having a not so nice logo... shows that their focus is not on shiny looks. .... it fits their purpose: they make a stable OS, not a shiny one. ..... I can imagine that this actually helps them to keep focused on quality.
Crickey, all I said was that it was a lousy logo.
Are you seriously distracted by a nice looking logo? Does it really take much effort to design a nice one? And do you think those Debian guys really wake up in the morning saying "Hey, that crappy logo helps keep me focussed on quality!" ?
I too want a stable and plain OS without wobbly windows and stuff. But look again at that logo and see that it is in that irritating "Designer Sloppyness" style, with ragged edges - so is not just a spiral, but one looking like it was done in a hurry by an 8-year old with a worn-out paint brush. A previous company I worked for paid a "Design Consultant" a 5-figure sum for a logo in that style, of which (it was explained to us) every splodge and wobble was supposed to have some inner meaning. I am not suggesting that Debian would have paid such (or any) sum, but it is the same bollocks at any price.
Your move Gaben. Duke Nukem Forever toppled, Debian Toppled, even Tim Cook Signed a deal with Samsung.
BSD may be dying, but it never died.
you missed 3/3/13, so you failed at 3 again.
This post brought to you by the number 3, and the letter M (for metro UI)
Yes, I use Windows 8 and an app to run it on my i pad which lets me access a Linux virtual machine!
Give me the score 3, insightful or give me -1, the truth hurts, and always hurts.
Am I the only one amused that The Bruce [Perens] puts his last name in parens?
you mean gnutered
traveling salesman
so you sucked cock for a living
you may be allowed to sell debian... but you won't, because nobody is stupid enough to buy from you
some of the debian swirls are pretty cool
there's a 3d one that looks like its made out of glass floating around on the net somewhere
Also, I'm going to go and register a domain name with debian in it. And then I'm going to have a page with something about cats or cars. Screw: "You cannot use Debian trademarks in a domain name, with or without commercial intent." I'm going to sell cats or cars and Debian can't do jack.
Sorry, but I seem to have missed your point. You think someone looking for Debian is going to buy your cat by mistake? Or what?
Are you seriously distracted by a nice looking logo?
No, I'm distracted by shiny stuff in the UI, and by not even making low hanging fruit like the logo shiny Debian makes it very obvious that its focus isn't on appearances. I like that.
The stylized bottle below the Debian swirl in the restricted logo practically explains the Debian philosophy. It's a gift from the free software genie.
Malaysian Chinese restaurants must follow a different philosophy from American Chinese restaurants, which are about the gaudiest thing this side of an Indian bus.
Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
Many people are wondering in this thread why they should care. I should hope the answer would be obvious. When an average human goes to buy a typical retail product they are not doing a lot of research ahead of time. They will often do some research today, but they are rarely drilling down into the specs to find out if the device will do precisely what they want to do. This works fine for most people because they don't want to do many things, if any, which the manufacturer did not intend. Most of us who want to do unusual things have learned to do some research ahead of time. For everyone else there are comforting rows of colorful icons. People have been picking up packages and seeing Mac or Win logos and leaving the store with a smile all along. Relatively few of those packages have a fat penguin stuffed with herring, but I do see him occasionally. Nothing I've ever seen in a store has had any other Linux-related icons (aside from Linux distributions back when people used to buy those) and it's about time that they did. And the way it will get there is through the dirt cheap stuff, because few of the top-tier vendors are going to risk associating themselves with Linux that closely.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
How manny no that Debian comes from Debbey and Ian ?
Finally I can get that Debian chest tattoo I was thinking about without fear of legal repercussion.
They look like brackets to me.
Like this dark one or this light one?
the light one was one the i was thinking of. thanks for the link
These are the same people that think that GIMP is comparable to Photoshop or even Paint.NET.
gimp isn't even in the same class as photoshop... it's a class above
gimp: developed by pros, for pros... noobs that aren't interested in getting their hands dirty should try ps instead
i'm yet to see anyone list all the reasons why gimp is deficient... more often than not ps users complain when they try gimp merely because its not exactly like ps and they don't know how to do it in gimp... similar to "linux sux because it's not like windows" morons