Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:59:52 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:59:42 -0500 Received: from marjorie.loran.com ([209.167.240.3]:31499 "HELO marjorie.loran.com") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id ; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:59:26 -0500 Message-ID: <037a01c066d5$56706e90$890216ac@ottawa.loran.com> From: "Dana Lacoste" To: "Rob Landley" , "Larry McVoy" Cc: , In-Reply-To: <20001215194059.10333.qmail@web5202.mail.yahoo.com> Subject: [OT] Re: Is there a Linux trademark issue with sun? Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:26:42 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Rob Landley wrote : > Sun feels that their core product, Solaris, is > threatened by Linux. They have several options: > A) Jump on board and use Linux on their hardware. > B) Improve Solaris until it can compete on its own > merits. > C) Market Solaris better, to make people want Solaris > instead of Linux. > D) Confuse people into thinking that Linux and Solaris > are the same thing. > > He's gone for D, and he's run straight into the Linux > trademark doing so. If everybody wants to abolish the > Linux trademark, that's fine. But if we don't defend > it here, I really do think it becomes too weak to be > useful in other situations. I don't think he did that at all : (Devil's Advocate time :) What he did was say that, while everyone was looking at Linux as the solution to modern computing problems, he didn't need to : he already has Solaris. So Solaris is his "Linux". A matter of grammar, not legal or technical terms : he didn't say that Solaris IS linux; he used a metaphor : "[Solaris] is our implementation of Linux". I'm not saying he's RIGHT : I'm just saying that he didn't intend to abuse the Linux trademark. He's taken a mix of (B) and (C) from above, claiming that his Solaris product can accomplish the same product targets that Linux does. Why should Sun provide anything for Linux if they already have Solaris providing all of the functionality? Could I say that Wine is my Windows implementation? Windows is a trademark, but everyone knows what I mean, right? Microsoft's not going to be writing me any letters, right? (well, none that I'm going to pay attention to, right? :) All just rhetoric, of course. Advocacy doesn't belong on linux-kernel :) -- Dana Lacoste Linux Developer Peregrine Systems - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/