On 19 Jul 2001, Galen Boyer wrote:
> I like everything except this closing paragraph. It would be too
> easy for them to just say, well then decease. Don't threaten,
> but leave the door open for a fight, so that they would at least
> have the incentive to look at the web page and think about free
> software and such. They certainly aren't going to care about how
> many years you've put in, or that it is highly regarded or that
> it would cause confusion in the community... What they would care
> about would be something like.
The public opinion about the closing paragraph is clear, nothing to add
about it. But: If I recall right, someone suggested a form of bribery. Put
something like this in the letter:
If you accept my request for rigth to continue the use of the acronym JDE
for my work, I would be more than happy to report my positive experiences
with J. D. Edwards to open source community forums. This would clearly
give positive PR for J. D. Edwards.
If person making the decision is some what paranoid, he/she could think
that this positive PR could be interpreted as weakness of the J. D.
Edwards. But this is quite remote possibility.
> ,----[ MAYBE YOU COULD WRITE SOMETHING LIKE ]
> | Many other open source software movements have had the same type
> | of threatening commands and they have decided to undergo a legal
> | battle to retain their rights. I do not want to do this, as it
> | would be very time consuming and costly, but please understand,
> | that if we were to have a legal battle over this, your reputation
> | could suffer, as it has in the previous legal battles with
> | free/open source software movements.
> `----
I don't think that clearly threatening with costly legal process is
wise. I think the letters spirit should be something like this:
I will do (almost) anything if you just let me continue the use of
the JDE acronym.
> Then quote them some examples. This would at least make them go
> through a process of discovery on what it is that they are
> threatening.
These could given as examples of the impact of going public in open
source forums. If somebody could dig up some positive cases too...
------ Kalle Raita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------- 040 - 723 1441
