From: Faustus von Goethe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> [FAUST REPLIES]
> I fear from reading your response that you are missing the point.
Whatever.
Linus, Red Hat, Bob's Computer Attick - the issue's the same. Control of a
trademark has nothing to do with control of the source or the game.
> WotC is the "Linus" in this industry (the
> creator and holder of the Trademark), not the "Red Hat" (a competitor).
> WotC is initiating and championing the OGL and will be the first company
to
> release OGL content.
Does Linus sell Linux distributions? Does Linus receive even $1 of revenue
from the sale of of the Linux kernel? Has Linus licensed the use of the
word "Linux" (which he does, by the way, hold a trademark to) and derived
licensing revenue?
We're nothing like Linus. In 1975, Gary and Dave were like Linus, but those
days are long past and gone.
Does Linus even >make< a Linux distribution? I think all Linus does these
days (outside of his work at Transmeta) is manage a team of people who
integrate kernel patches. The work of creating a usable operating system
and applications suite has been offloaded to the distribution publishers.
Who, if they expect to stay in business, are all busy creating trademarks
for themselves.
> A PARALLEL:
> What the naysayers are upset about is that what you are doing is just as
if
> MICROSOFT suddenly said - OK, our core OS code is now open source. You
can
> copy it, add to it and give it away all you want. You can also use parts
of
> it to create software that will run on Windows.
>
> You just can't *EVER* use the word Windows or TELL ANYBODY (in advertizing
> or on the product) that your software will run on Windows.
Yes; that's a perfect analogy to what we're doing.
If Microsoft followed that path, the screams of delight from the marketplace
would be defeaning. The exclusive right to copy, modify and distribute the
Windows source code is the single most valuable equity asset ever created by
mankind. If Microsoft were to relinquish their exclusive rights to do so
completely and unreservedly (like the OGL does for the D&D game) the world
would be a shatteringly different place in mere days (maybe hours).
I suspect a similar, though much, much smaller set of delightful screams
will echo in the gaming industry when the D20 SRD and STL are released - and
for exactly the same reasons.
> EXAMPLE:
> But in the current RPG gaming market that will not work.
You have no idea whether it will work or not. The concept has never been
tried.
Ryan
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