On Wed, Jan 18, 2023, 12:08 PM David Dernoncourt <m...@daviddernoncourt.com> wrote:
> As "just a regular user" and node runner who just poked around a few PRs, > the main issues I have with this are 1) "what the Hell is Locutus" and 2) > wow that's confusing. > > Sure, 1) is just (mostly) a rhetorical question. But it seems quite an > unusual thing to "steal" the name of a software (even more so when said > software is still actively maintained) to stamp it on another software that > doesn't have any relationship with the other one beside being supported by > the same foundation and sharing the same (or a similar enough) mission > statement. > Speaking of steal: https://trademarks.justia.com/874/39/freenet-87439977.html While I do understand the reasoning of "I can't come up with a better name > to describe what we're doing", boy, how confusing is that. 20-something > year old software suddenly becomes totally different. Imagine Mozilla > rebranding "Thunderbird" as "Firefox" and "Firefox" as "Firefox Classic" > (and on top of that you've never head of Thunderbird), what a mess this > would be. > > As far as suggestions go, even though (if it's not obvious) I don't > support this change either (I would rather prefer, for instance, "Freenet > Locutus" vs "Freenet Classic", dropping "Freenet [period]" instead of > hijacking it), my suggestion would be to find a way to make it crystal > clear that names were swapped and to point out clearly and concisely the > key differences between the "old" Freenet and the "new" one. > > On Tue, Jan 17, 2023, at 15:04, Ian Clarke wrote: > > Dear Freenet users and developers, > > > > I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to inform you of an > > important change that the Freenet Project board voted on unanimously on > > Friday. After much discussion over the past 18 months, we have decided > > to rename the codebase and software known internally as "Fred," to > > "Freenet Classic." > > > > In addition, we are announcing that the new codebase, known internally > > as "Locutus," will be renamed to "Freenet." We understand that this is > > a big change and it carries risk, but the board believes that this risk > > is necessary in order to further the project's mission. > > > > It is important to note that this change does *not* mean that Locutus > > is replacing Fred, which solves related but different problems. We will > > ensure that where Fred is the appropriate tool for people they will be > > directed to it. Freenetproject.org will remain focused on Fred while > > linking to Locutus - as it has been for over two decades - while > > freenet.org will place more emphasis on Locutus, while still linking to > > Fred. > > > > We will be implementing these changes over the coming days and weeks > > and would be grateful for your ideas and suggestions on how best to do > > this. > > > > Thank you, > > > > Ian > > > > -- > > Ian Clarke > > Founder, The Freenet Project > > Email: i...@freenetproject.org >
