Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 28th Sep 2006 22:44 UTC, submitted by csousa
Debian adheres to a strict interpretation of what is Free Software and what isn't. The Firefox logo is trademarked, so Debian doesn't consider it to be Free and will not include it as part of its distribution. Mozilla claims that using the Firefox name without the official branding is a trademark violation. Furthermore, Mozilla claims that if Debian runs any patches to the version of Firefox included with Debian distros, it has to run them by Mozilla first for approval. What all this ultimately could mean is that the Firefox name is wiped from the face of Debian and its offshoots. Debian developer Eric Dorland confirmed to internetnews.com that Debian will re-name Firefox and that the re-naming process could be completed as soon as next week.
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RE: What exactly is the problem here?
by korpenkraxar on Sat 30th Sep 2006 09:25
in reply to "What exactly is the problem here?"
Member since:2005-09-10
Member since:
2006-01-01
For a long time Mozilla was OK with what Debian did with Firefox. But now they have suddenly found that they are not OK with it and they want Debian to rebrand the Firefox version that Debian packages. Debian answers that all right, we'll rebrand it if that is what you wish.
Then suddenly there's a 100 posts at OSNews, with a large percentage of them saying that they don't like how Debian always fights with others (and with itself) and that this dispute with Mozilla proves that Debian is ripping itself apart with its petty politics.
I don't get it. Debian complies to Mozilla's demands and promises to rebrand Firefox. Where's the argument here, where's the dispute? It seems to me that Mozilla and Debian have found an easy agreement. How exactly is Debian ripping itself apart by changing the name of the Firefox version that they package?
Anyway, my suggestion is that Debian should rebrand Firefox to Hotdog. I'd rather browse the Web with Hotdog than with Firefox. :-P