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- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew
- From: mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk>
- Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
- Subject: Re: Fund raising at the FSF
- Message-ID: <FXPywB27w165w@mantis.co.uk>
- Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 15:52:02 GMT
- References: <1icncgINN7r7@agate.berkeley.edu>
- Distribution: world
- Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.
- Lines: 50
-
- jbuck@forney.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) writes:
- > tower@ai.mit.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) writes:
- > >> In retrospect, I wish we had name FSF the:
- > >> Software Freedom Foundation
- > >> but it's way to late now.
- >
- > In article <yqZwwB12w165w@mantis.co.uk> mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk> writes:
- > >Why?
- >
- > It would cost FSF thousands of dollars to do a name change (legal costs,
- > since they are an official nonprofit corporation, stationery, office
- > stuff, etc).
-
- A fair point, but it's arguably worth the cost.
-
- > It would create a lot of confusion. People know who FSF is; they don't
- > know who SFF is.
-
- A short-term problem. Lots of companies change their names. (Honeywell have
- done it four times in the last decade, and people have still heard of Bull.)
-
- > Changing to SFF wouldn't shut people like you up, since you will continue
- > to argue that Gnu-licensed code does not provide freedom.
-
- If the FSF changed its name to, say, the Shareable Software Foundation (SSF),
- that would very definitely shut me up. As far as I can see, "Shareable
- Software Foundation" describes exactly what GNU is about, no?
-
- Tell you what: Change the FSF's name to SSF and I promise I'll shut up. A
- bargain, no?
-
- > No three-word name is going to be completely accurate anyway.
-
- OK, please point out the inaccuracies in "Shareable Software Foundation".
-
- > Why don't
- > you guys go off and argue with OSF about their name for a while?
-
- Because OSF are so low-profile they're virtually invisible, whereas GNU
- evangelists are in every newsgroup.
-
- > If this name had been chosen early on, it might have been better, but
- > as Len says, it is too late now since the costs of a name change (to
- > any new name) outweigh the benefits.
-
- Depends how much you hate me, I suppose.
-
-
- mathew
-
-