Hi, On 07-07-2024 21:47, Shawn W Dunn wrote:
Pursuant to Richard and Robert's talk at oSC 2024:
https://media.ccc.de/v/4411-we-re-all-grown-up-opensuse-is-not-suse
This is a topic that needs to be discussed as a community, especially as it's currently a request from SUSE.
Basically it boils down to SUSE being concerned the strength of their trademark is watered down by us using the SUSE name in our distribution. Does this change have any legal and/or financial consequences? A dull/boring question probably but a necessary one (probably a leftover from my days in law school). Apart from that it would be a perfect time to reflect on how do we organize the different projects in the community. Do we want to split all the sub projects to go their separate way (Richards proposal)? I think that would be a costly mistake. My opinion is "The product is more than the sum of the parts", so we should under no circumstance split up. Yes, you can use the sub projects but you would split up volunteers all over the place. It would mean a loss in manpower as there is no incentive to collaborate beyond each sub project.
I do want to be clear, this message is me posting as "Community Member SFalken" not "openSUSE Board Member SFalken"
Myself, I'm in favour of "rebranding" the community project, and making it clear that openSUSE != SUSE. Far too much of the time in our support channels is spent clearing up these misconceptions, where new users (and even some experienced users), are saying things like "SUSE Should do $x" or "Why doesn't SUSE do $x?".
Agreed.
I'm less certain that I agree with Richards proposal of the individual projects sort of "go their own way", at least as he's laid it out, but again, this is absolutely a topic that deserves consideration.
Thoughts?
See above. Would also like to reflect on at least our legal status as well. Since we only have a Geekos foundation it would be a good idea to create a legal framework from which we, as a community, operate. Just my 5ct at this point. Kind regards, Natasha