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

 On 30/09/2010 22:19, Marc Paré wrote:
>  Le 2010-09-30 15:32, jonathon a écrit :
> > On 09/29/2010 05:45 PM, Bernhard Dippold wrote:
> >
> > > If they insist on keeping the trademark given to Sun Microsystems becau
> > se the community hadn't an entity to claim violations and abuse,
> >
> > I seriously doubt that Oracle will donate the trademarks to Document
> > Foundation.
> >
> > Selling them is a possibility, but the price would probably be for
> > whatever OOo, as an independent company, would sell for.
> >
> > As such, all planning should be done on the basis that the project has
> > been rebranded to LibreOffice.
> >
> > jonathon
>
> It wouldn't surprise me if Oracle did hand over the "OpenOffice.org" 
> trademark name. They will no doubt have been on this mailist and seen 
> how many of the localization teams have moved to the LibreOffice 
> group. I don't think that this change in direction was a big surprise 
> to them as it wasn't for the "OpenOffice.org" community. It would be 
> in their interest as corporate citizens to establish good will with 
> the "OpenOffice.org" community, and, as the LibreOffice is happening 
> with or without the "OpenOffice.org" name, the game to them is lost. 
> It's just a matter of clearing all liabilities from their end of their 
> business model and joining the Document Foundation project along with 
> everyone else. I don't think that there is any animosity between the 
> group, we should all be thankful that Sun bought and delivered the 
> code to OSS regardless of how they may or may not have run the "code" 
> approval system. Just imagine the pre-StarOffice days, when the only 
> real word processor in town was MSOffice and Wordperfect had been 
> decimated by its competitor. Without Sun's generosity, we would not 
> now be in a position to create a foundation based on an OSS office suite.
>
> So, "hats off" and congratulations first of all to Sun Microsystems 
> who gave us this wonderful piece of software,  and hopefully, "hats 
> off" with congratulations and upmost of thanks to Oracle for helping 
> us with the transition from being under the safety of a corporate 
> umbrella to a document foundation based on OSS and the sharing of 
> code. Oracle/Sun would then be remembered as a darling corporation who 
> helped foster OSS adoption. With a little luck, Oracle could offer 
> support for the Document Foundation with seed money and hardware 
> facilities/support until the foundation's business model is put into 
> work and able to stand on its own financially. This is what happened 
> to Mozilla when it first set out on its own.
>
> Hopefully, the LibreOffice will be only a temporary and brief episode 
> and the "OpenOffice.org" brand will live on along with the great 
> community that it has always had. Let's keep the lines of 
> communication open and remain positive.
>
> Cheers
>
> Marc
First, let me congratulate all those that have taken this initiative.

As a long time "lurker" and (very) occasional contributor to the OOo 
users list and a user of OOo for the past seven or eight years, I 
welcome the chance to be a (small) part of this community led project. 
Like others, I really hope that Oracle do hand over name and branding of 
OpenOffice.org. It has a fantastic reputation and user base and being 
able to use it will help to consolidate the new Foundation when formally 
established. However, I think that we have to be realistic. Oracle are 
in business to make money. Software and hardware are just their means to 
do it. Oracle have already re-branded Star Office as Oracle OpenOffice. 
Unless they see a real commercial advantage in doing so, they will not 
pass on the name and branding. They already see FLOSS as detracting from 
their commercial interests and being in competition with them. Why else 
would they cease development of Open Solaris? I think that until the 
Document Foundation actually has the OpenOffice.org name and trademark 
in its hands, we have to operate on the basis that the name and further 
development of OpenOffice.org will only be on the basis of supporting 
Oracle's commercial offerings.

I hope this doesn't seem to gloomy a view. Its not meant to be. On the 
contrary, I am extremely optimistic for the future of LibreOffice.

Many thanks to all those involved in this initiative.

Terry W
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