Re: OO CD Distribution
On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 7:15 PM, Kay Schenk kay.sch...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Donald Whytock dwhyt...@apache.org wrote: Is there a larger version of the orb graphic? Something, say, big enough to use as a CD label background? Don The svg file for the flat orb can be found at: http://www.openoffice.org/images/AOO_logos/svg/orb.svg and resized. If you're thinking about using the shaded orb that's in the web site logo, I don't find just that orb in svg format anyway. Maybe Michael Acevedo could provide us with one as he supplied the orb+lettering logo we're now using. I think the the svg for this complete logo is at: http://www.openoffice.org/images/AOO_logos/svg/OOo_Website_v2_copy.svg (see additional info at: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/AOO+3.x+-+Logo+Explorations The flat orb works nicely, thanks. At least for a prototype. Don
Re: OO CD Distribution
Is there a larger version of the orb graphic? Something, say, big enough to use as a CD label background? Don On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 8:44 AM, Rob Weir robw...@apache.org wrote: On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 3:02 AM, Jörg Schmidt joe...@j-m-schmidt.de wrote: Hello, From: Chris Maffey [mailto:ch...@maffey.com] I have been distributing OO Cds since 2002, from my website http://openoffice.org.nz/. This is mostly an exercise in helping distribute OpenOffice, rather than a money maker. I sell the CDs for around $3.50 USD, and after all the CD printing, Package printing, CD Burning expenses there is no profit. I know this is not a huge contribution, however I have sold around 3,700 OO CDs in New Zealand over the last 10 years, which possibly helps in a little way. I think that's good, thank you for your work. But I think profit is something positive, because imho the statement of the FSF is correct: Since free software is not a matter of price, a low price does not make the free software, or even closer to free. So if you are redistributing copies of free software, you might as well charge a substantial fee and make some money . Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate activity;. if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it see: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en For example, we have, in the past, the PrOOo-Box (professionally pressed DVD plus printed manual (150 pages) in a box) sold for 12 euros. We used this money for the local work on OOo, for example, for fairs how the LinuxTag (http://www.linuxtag.org/2013/en.html). On the idea of reviving a CD/Distribution site, I'd like to review the reasons why we took it down originally: 1) The list was out of date. A quick check of the links showed that many were dead or did not actually go to pages that offered OpenOffice CD's. 2) As part of a non-profit foundation we need to be very careful how we relate to commercial entities. We can't be seen, for example, as giving special treatment to some commercial entities over others. And we need to be acting in accordance with the Foundations charitable mission. 3) We also need to watch out to ensure that our trademarks are not misused. 4) We have no practical way to ensure that CD distributors are offering current versions of OpenOffice, are virus free, etc. We see many examples of websites that claim to offer OpenOffice downloads but instead trick the user into downloading another application that installs malware on their machine. Our constant advice to users is to only download from a trusted source. How do we apply this advice with physical media? 5) Search engines are good enough today that a user can find a distributor without us getting involved. For example a Google search of 'buy openoffice cd new zealand turns up the appropriate website at the top. But since the time we took that page down we've had more experience thinking these kinds of issues through. For example, we now have a consultants page: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultants.html That page has a disclaimer: The information provided here was provided by the entities named, and is not verified or endorsed by the Apache OpenOffice project. We offer this listing as a service to the ecosystem. And we have impartial listing criteria. We don't give preferential treatment to one company over another: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultant-submission.html The listings are fact-based and descriptive, not advertising. We also visit each website and verify that any use of ASF-owned trademarks is appropriate and correctly acknowledged. So I think we could develop a set of guidelines for CD listings, on a similar model to what we did with consultants. To make it lightweight I'd propose a set of guidelines that the distributors self-certify to. In other words, they agree to follow these guidelines as a condition of being listed. Things like: 1) Only appropriate, acknowledged use of trademarks 2) No implied affiliation with the OpenOffice project 3) Notice that the software can be downloaded for free from www.openoffice.org 4) Software offered is unmodified AOO. Hashcodes must match. (Of course, everyone has the right to modify AOO, but if we're linking to distributors from our download website, the presumption is for unmodified versions. If we want a separate list for sales of modified versions of AOO that should go on the ports and distributions page) 5) Versions offered must be either the current version of AOO or another version of AOO that was current within 90 days from the sale. In other words, we want to discourage distribution of old versions with security flaws. 6) Distributor should be signed up to our announcements mailing list, so they are promptly notified of new releases. 7) Distributor must not imply that support is included
Re: OO CD Distribution
On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Donald Whytock dwhyt...@apache.org wrote: Is there a larger version of the orb graphic? Something, say, big enough to use as a CD label background? Don The svg file for the flat orb can be found at: http://www.openoffice.org/images/AOO_logos/svg/orb.svg and resized. If you're thinking about using the shaded orb that's in the web site logo, I don't find just that orb in svg format anyway. Maybe Michael Acevedo could provide us with one as he supplied the orb+lettering logo we're now using. I think the the svg for this complete logo is at: http://www.openoffice.org/images/AOO_logos/svg/OOo_Website_v2_copy.svg (see additional info at: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/AOO+3.x+-+Logo+Explorations On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 8:44 AM, Rob Weir robw...@apache.org wrote: On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 3:02 AM, Jörg Schmidt joe...@j-m-schmidt.de wrote: Hello, From: Chris Maffey [mailto:ch...@maffey.com] I have been distributing OO Cds since 2002, from my website http://openoffice.org.nz/. This is mostly an exercise in helping distribute OpenOffice, rather than a money maker. I sell the CDs for around $3.50 USD, and after all the CD printing, Package printing, CD Burning expenses there is no profit. I know this is not a huge contribution, however I have sold around 3,700 OO CDs in New Zealand over the last 10 years, which possibly helps in a little way. I think that's good, thank you for your work. But I think profit is something positive, because imho the statement of the FSF is correct: Since free software is not a matter of price, a low price does not make the free software, or even closer to free. So if you are redistributing copies of free software, you might as well charge a substantial fee and make some money . Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate activity;. if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it see: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en For example, we have, in the past, the PrOOo-Box (professionally pressed DVD plus printed manual (150 pages) in a box) sold for 12 euros. We used this money for the local work on OOo, for example, for fairs how the LinuxTag (http://www.linuxtag.org/2013/en.html). On the idea of reviving a CD/Distribution site, I'd like to review the reasons why we took it down originally: 1) The list was out of date. A quick check of the links showed that many were dead or did not actually go to pages that offered OpenOffice CD's. 2) As part of a non-profit foundation we need to be very careful how we relate to commercial entities. We can't be seen, for example, as giving special treatment to some commercial entities over others. And we need to be acting in accordance with the Foundations charitable mission. 3) We also need to watch out to ensure that our trademarks are not misused. 4) We have no practical way to ensure that CD distributors are offering current versions of OpenOffice, are virus free, etc. We see many examples of websites that claim to offer OpenOffice downloads but instead trick the user into downloading another application that installs malware on their machine. Our constant advice to users is to only download from a trusted source. How do we apply this advice with physical media? 5) Search engines are good enough today that a user can find a distributor without us getting involved. For example a Google search of 'buy openoffice cd new zealand turns up the appropriate website at the top. But since the time we took that page down we've had more experience thinking these kinds of issues through. For example, we now have a consultants page: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultants.html That page has a disclaimer: The information provided here was provided by the entities named, and is not verified or endorsed by the Apache OpenOffice project. We offer this listing as a service to the ecosystem. And we have impartial listing criteria. We don't give preferential treatment to one company over another: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultant-submission.html The listings are fact-based and descriptive, not advertising. We also visit each website and verify that any use of ASF-owned trademarks is appropriate and correctly acknowledged. So I think we could develop a set of guidelines for CD listings, on a similar model to what we did with consultants. To make it lightweight I'd propose a set of guidelines that the distributors self-certify to. In other words, they agree to follow these guidelines as a condition of being listed. Things like: 1) Only appropriate, acknowledged use of trademarks 2) No implied affiliation with the OpenOffice project 3) Notice that the software can be downloaded for
Re: OO CD Distribution
Hello, From: Chris Maffey [mailto:ch...@maffey.com] I have been distributing OO Cds since 2002, from my website http://openoffice.org.nz/. This is mostly an exercise in helping distribute OpenOffice, rather than a money maker. I sell the CDs for around $3.50 USD, and after all the CD printing, Package printing, CD Burning expenses there is no profit. I know this is not a huge contribution, however I have sold around 3,700 OO CDs in New Zealand over the last 10 years, which possibly helps in a little way. I think that's good, thank you for your work. But I think profit is something positive, because imho the statement of the FSF is correct: Since free software is not a matter of price, a low price does not make the free software, or even closer to free. So if you are redistributing copies of free software, you might as well charge a substantial fee and make some money . Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate activity;. if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it see: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en For example, we have, in the past, the PrOOo-Box (professionally pressed DVD plus printed manual (150 pages) in a box) sold for 12 euros. We used this money for the local work on OOo, for example, for fairs how the LinuxTag (http://www.linuxtag.org/2013/en.html). Greetings, Jörg - To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
Re: OO CD Distribution
On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 3:02 AM, Jörg Schmidt joe...@j-m-schmidt.de wrote: Hello, From: Chris Maffey [mailto:ch...@maffey.com] I have been distributing OO Cds since 2002, from my website http://openoffice.org.nz/. This is mostly an exercise in helping distribute OpenOffice, rather than a money maker. I sell the CDs for around $3.50 USD, and after all the CD printing, Package printing, CD Burning expenses there is no profit. I know this is not a huge contribution, however I have sold around 3,700 OO CDs in New Zealand over the last 10 years, which possibly helps in a little way. I think that's good, thank you for your work. But I think profit is something positive, because imho the statement of the FSF is correct: Since free software is not a matter of price, a low price does not make the free software, or even closer to free. So if you are redistributing copies of free software, you might as well charge a substantial fee and make some money . Redistributing free software is a good and legitimate activity;. if you do it, you might as well make a profit from it see: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html.en For example, we have, in the past, the PrOOo-Box (professionally pressed DVD plus printed manual (150 pages) in a box) sold for 12 euros. We used this money for the local work on OOo, for example, for fairs how the LinuxTag (http://www.linuxtag.org/2013/en.html). On the idea of reviving a CD/Distribution site, I'd like to review the reasons why we took it down originally: 1) The list was out of date. A quick check of the links showed that many were dead or did not actually go to pages that offered OpenOffice CD's. 2) As part of a non-profit foundation we need to be very careful how we relate to commercial entities. We can't be seen, for example, as giving special treatment to some commercial entities over others. And we need to be acting in accordance with the Foundations charitable mission. 3) We also need to watch out to ensure that our trademarks are not misused. 4) We have no practical way to ensure that CD distributors are offering current versions of OpenOffice, are virus free, etc. We see many examples of websites that claim to offer OpenOffice downloads but instead trick the user into downloading another application that installs malware on their machine. Our constant advice to users is to only download from a trusted source. How do we apply this advice with physical media? 5) Search engines are good enough today that a user can find a distributor without us getting involved. For example a Google search of 'buy openoffice cd new zealand turns up the appropriate website at the top. But since the time we took that page down we've had more experience thinking these kinds of issues through. For example, we now have a consultants page: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultants.html That page has a disclaimer: The information provided here was provided by the entities named, and is not verified or endorsed by the Apache OpenOffice project. We offer this listing as a service to the ecosystem. And we have impartial listing criteria. We don't give preferential treatment to one company over another: http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultant-submission.html The listings are fact-based and descriptive, not advertising. We also visit each website and verify that any use of ASF-owned trademarks is appropriate and correctly acknowledged. So I think we could develop a set of guidelines for CD listings, on a similar model to what we did with consultants. To make it lightweight I'd propose a set of guidelines that the distributors self-certify to. In other words, they agree to follow these guidelines as a condition of being listed. Things like: 1) Only appropriate, acknowledged use of trademarks 2) No implied affiliation with the OpenOffice project 3) Notice that the software can be downloaded for free from www.openoffice.org 4) Software offered is unmodified AOO. Hashcodes must match. (Of course, everyone has the right to modify AOO, but if we're linking to distributors from our download website, the presumption is for unmodified versions. If we want a separate list for sales of modified versions of AOO that should go on the ports and distributions page) 5) Versions offered must be either the current version of AOO or another version of AOO that was current within 90 days from the sale. In other words, we want to discourage distribution of old versions with security flaws. 6) Distributor should be signed up to our announcements mailing list, so they are promptly notified of new releases. 7) Distributor must not imply that support is included in the purchase price, unless they actually provide support. We've seen some websites charge for OpenOffice, say it includes support, and then point the user to the free community support forums. Now on any of these points, you might say, But that is none of your concern what
OO CD Distribution
Hi There I have been distributing OO Cds since 2002, from my website http://openoffice.org.nz/. This is mostly an exercise in helping distribute OpenOffice, rather than a money maker. I sell the CDs for around $3.50 USD, and after all the CD printing, Package printing, CD Burning expenses there is no profit. I know this is not a huge contribution, however I have sold around 3,700 OO CDs in New Zealand over the last 10 years, which possibly helps in a little way. When I started this local project, internet speeds were slow, and many people found it difficult to download a big piece of software like Open Office, so a CD distribution option was really helpful. This is far less the case these days, however, some people still like to get nicely printed physical CDs. Anyway, it would be of great help to have a page like the one below reinstated as a link from the Open Office download page: http://www.openoffice.org/distribution/cdrom/sellers.html My suggestion for vetting distributors is two fold: 1) All CD distributors websites should have a clear indication that OpenOffice is free to download, plus a link back to the download page. 2) Maybe distributors should have to occasionally send a physical CD to someone in the Open Office distro team, so that they can vet the CD has the most recent version of the software on it. Thanks for listening Chris... -- Say it with Puppies: http://www.puppytext.com/ Get Freestuff: http://www.freestuff.co.nz/ Chris Maffey | maffey.com limited 126 Lonely Track Road, Albany 0632 Phone: +64 9 448 2192
