A couple of specific comments below:
On 2012-03-13 2:57 PM, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
...
One key item would be improving the couchdb.a.o website, in
particular so that it better describes what CouchDB is and how to
use it to *newcomers* to the technology. Separately, I bet it
would be helpful for committers (and others) to blog and post about
CouchDB individually, both to explain why CouchDB is so great, and
also to explain that there's only one Apache CouchDB, and all the
other Couches are less (or more) related to us, the first
Couch-named No-SQL db.
[Apache CouchDB hat]: That's very good advice. For a while now I
longed for a page that explains the CouchDB ecosystem in a nutshell.
I have personally not gotten to it, but I'd love to see a page that
is a brief introduction into all the players that make up the greater
CouchDB ecosystem with Apache CouchDB at its centre. It could be as
simple as starting with a list on our wiki.
We have a DRAFT set of best practices for this kind of page:
http://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/linking.html
The point is that projects should feel free to add such pages, while
making sure that they don't turn into advertisements for other
organizations. Also, making sure that it is an equitable and clear list
that helps our Apache project's users, not just the third party
organizations.
...
[Couchbase hat]: I'll follow up with a report on changes that we made
to our website when they are implemented. Please allow a number of
days. If the PMC agrees, I'll use this thread instead of the private@
mailing list to send the update. If the PMC prefers, I can take it to
private@ directly, though. If the PMC has additional requests for us,
please get in touch privately at j...@couchbase.com.
Given that we're already talking about this on dev@ in public, it's
better to keep the conversation in public. More eyes, more ideas - and
less chance that someone tries to assume or imply that anyone's playing
politics.
Note that in terms of trademark enforcement, there are many cases that
*start* out with private discussions. This is most often for two reasons:
First, if it's a PMC member or trademarks@ person bringing the matter up
for the first time, we usually make first contact a third party saying
"Hey, please change X" in private. In the majority of the cases, this
allows the third party to privately say "Whoops, you're right, we'll fix
it!" without losing face, and without a larger mail thread causing
misunderstandings. For the majority of third parties who are happy to
comply, this works better at first.
Second, sometimes we have third parties who approach us with trademark
questions privately - perhaps about ideas for their new product names or
the like. In this case, we need to respect their request for privacy
presuming that the question gets sorted out properly.
Oh - and trademark enforcement is a process. So now that we have a good
response from the third party (i.e. Jan notes some specifics that
Couchbase is working on improving), it's fine if the process takes
several days or even a few weeks. Unless there's some egregious
trademark infringement - like refusing to recognize a mark or explicitly
using a bare mark improperly - the point is getting a good overall result.
- The PMC should also update the couchdb.a.o website to ensure
we're properly attributing our own marks. Please update the
trademark attribution in the footer to include:
Apache CouchDB, CouchDB, Apache and the CouchDB logo are trademarks
of the Apache Software Foundation.
See: http://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/pmcs#attributions
[Apache CouchDB hat]: The footer currently says: '“Apache CouchDB”
and the Project logo are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation
— Copyright © 2008–2011 The Apache Software Foundation' Aside from
the year that we should definitely fix, we only need to add "CouchDB"
to the list, is that correct?
Add "Apache" as well, since it's also an important trademark for the ASF
as a whole as well as for our projects.
Thanks again Shane! I trust we can drive that to a amicable
conclusion now.
Cheers Jan
Indeed, I'm confident we can too, with a little patience and good ideas
from the whole PMC.
Thanks!
- Shane
