Re: [Phpgroupware-developers] Project Structure

[Alex Borges]

> 
> >From a commercial perspective the major problem that we (as a company) have 
> with a single person controlling the 'brand' (the name itself, the domain and 
> the trademarks) is that if we contribute large amounts of business resources 
> (e.g. development time etc) to the project then essentially we are building a 
> 'brand' that is controlled by one person.  We are building someone elses 
> castle. 
> 
> So by continuing to hold on to the domains, trademarks etc you restrict the 
> progress of the project, as it is very hard for people like me to secure 
> support from our Board of Directors to invest time and resources into 
> phpgroupware.  I am sure there are many other companies out there who are 
> faced with the same situation that ours is faced with.

I have to stand beside this opinion. Linux is owned by Linus as well,
but there is an independent consortium that manages the brand. If i ask
for official permission to use the brand from Dan, will I get it
price-free (id be willing to pay handling charges perhaps, but not an
actual fee) ??  This is part of the issue, Linus gives permission almost
for free to use the Linux trademark, and he has huge pressure from
public statements he has made that he would go out of his way to make
the Linux TM accesible to all who wish to use it right (to sell linux,
not undermine it or its merits). If i had this kind of security it'd be
easyer for us to get funding to, in turn, asign men to stuff in phpgw.