Re: [tdf-discuss] Explanation . . . ?

> 1. We are all celebrating LibreOffice and we support the project, no 
> matter it's trademark name.
>
> 2. We are worried about marketing. We know regular users don't 
> understand this process and we have been working for a long time 
> promoting OpenOffice on  government, universities and other 
> institutions. There are  "hostile environments" out there, and this 
> great news are kind of bad news for some people (for example Panama, 
> where government contracts ask for MSOffice or OpenOffice mentioned as a
> trademark).
>
> 3. Our great news are confusing and can be used against Free Software, 
> if the Document Foundation don't coordinate a communication's 
> strategy. We know this project will succeed as a development project 
> but there a other areas needed. A fork enhances the most common 
> unfounded fears about Free Software: projects are unstable and there's 
> a lack of support.
>
>
> So, of course, the scenario will be better if Oracle gives the trademark
> to the community, but if we have to wait a month for that to happen, the
> situation will still be complicated. In that case, it may be better if 
> we start positioning LibreOffice now because in two months, it may be 
> too late.
>
> Of course, we decided to wait for your guidances but we want to make 
> sure you are thinking about the consequences of waiting for the trademark
> .
>
> Thanks a lot for doing what some of us only dared to dream: building a 
> home for OpenOffice.
>
> Carolina
Hola Carolina:

I agree with you 100%. I would not wait for Oracle to make its mind up. 
We should go about organizing LibreOffice as if there will be no 
trademark transfer. The LibreOffice is more than just a small group of 
people who have moved on from the OpenOffice.org suite, if we don't take 
the Document Foundation and LibreOffice seriously now, then it would be 
hard to gain everyone else's respect later. The fact that so many high 
ranking Ooo people have joined on the Ooo shift from Oracle/Sun's shadow 
is a deliberate action that has been noticed from everyone. I have 
already notified my schoolboard IT of the "temporary fork" and that the 
OpenOffice team may either come back as the same Ooo group but having 
gained their trademarked name from Oracle or under the name of 
LibreOffice. As long as the communication lines with the general public 
is kept open, in my opinion, there should be no problem with branding 
the suite as LibreOffice. Note that we try to promote the Ooo at my 
school board as an alternative to MSOffice and I use it to teach in my 
classes as much as I can. If we all did this, maybe this too could help 
"nudge" Oracle in deciding of the name transfer.

Marc
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