[Pkg-xen-devel] Bug#391935: Bug#391935: Bug #391935: Re: The answer from Citrix & Xen.org

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 08:24:54PM +0000, Ian Jackson wrote:
> Robert Millan writes ("[Pkg-xen-devel] Bug#391935: Bug #391935: Re: The answer from Citrix 	& Xen.org"):
> > On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 02:15:29PM +0100, Bas Zoetekouw wrote:
> > > Actually, I think there were two problems with firefox: the logo issue
> > > (that was solved by changing the icon), and the use of the Firefox
> > > trademark, which required anyone who wanted to use the name "firefox"
> > > to use only "official" binaries built by Mozilla.  This second issue
> > > originately seemed similar to the Xen case.
> > 
> > Having followed the situation closely, I can say that the latter was mostly
> > an excuse.  Just look at the package in Ubuntu.  They make all the changes
> > they need, and they are able to provide security support.  The big difference
> > is they keep the non-free logo.
> 
> I disagree.
> 
> I was at the time employed by Canonical and I was the person who was
> at that time responsible for most of the changes which had been made
> to Ubuntu's Firefox compared to Debian's, so I should know.
> 
> I don't want to be rude about my previous employer of course, but you
> shouldn't set much store by the various public pronouncements made at
> the time.

When I talked to the Mozilla folks about it, they made it very clear that
relicensing the logo was out of the question.  They might have been open to
negotiating other things, like which kind of modifications are allowed, etc,
but I have no doubt that the logo is the big stumbling block.

This leads me to believe that, if we had kept using the non-free logo, our
set of Debian-specific changes to the package would have been a non-issue,
or at least a minor one.

But of course, I can't prove any of that.  So make of it what you wish :-)

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."