Hi All
Great to see there is so much enthusiasm for Riak.
I'm from Erlang Solutions. Just to clarify where things are at the
moment. The company Basho Technologies still exists - it hasn't filed
for bankruptcy yet - although we expect it to. There is no grave just
yet. We are creditors and shareholders so we will be notified when/if
they do file for bankruptcy. Assuming it goes into liquidation, the
receiver will sell whatever assets can be liquidated in order to pay the
creditors. Registered names like Riak are things which can be sold...
so we will see. it will probably take a long time before Basho is truly
dead and buried.
I've asked our CEO Stuart Whitfield (who happens to be a lawyer) to
look at the legal questions and give a more detailed view.
As Russell correctly points out existing customers are the priority. In
terms of our thoughts of this situation, our priority is to ensure
enterprise customers have continuity of support since they are the ones
most likely to abandon Riak as it will be a forced migration situation
if there is no support. I expect to launch a paid support service very
shortly - if you're interested, let me know.
In terms of Riak software, the open source software is safe since it is
open sourced under a friendly licence. The situation with the code for
the enterprise version is not clear yet (highly dependent who/if it is
bought in the fire sale since it is closed source) - although we aim,
one way or another, to have an open source data centre replication
layer. Not sure who is using the other functionality like super clusters
in the the enterprise version - ping me if you are.
In terms of the products, KV is the priority for support followed by
CS/S2. There aren't many people using TS so it will probably be
community support for the code. I already have some interest from a
former developer to move TS forward - if others want to work on TS I
can help co-ordinate in the interim.
In terms of evolving the code we're happy to co-ordinate a community and
help steer the future direction for the product. We are looking whether
this should be done through a similar model to the Linux foundation.
For major feature development, our thoughts are some kind of crowd
funding model for functionality which requires significant development
effort - Basho funded this activity through support and being closed
source which doesnt really work in a completely open source model. Our
goal would be to have just the open source version and no closed source
code. Where possible we wouldnt want customers to have closed source forks.
We definitely see Riak has a future and want to focus on getting back to
basics of a product which is high performance and does it well - before
adding lots of new functionality. For example ensure there is a clean
demarcation between the data layer and the control layer - this should
make it easier to create new storage types and change the replication
layer. Right now for those of Enterprise, migration back to Open Source
is not straight forward because of this.
If you are planning to set up groups etc, please let me know and our
marketing group can help you establish the community.
Steve
On 15/07/17 08:08, Russell Brown wrote:
On 15 Jul 2017, at 01:29, Alexander Sicular <sicul...@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm not dancing on anyone's grave. Im a big fan of Riak, you know? I'm just
pointing out that there is in fact a grave and if there is any hope for a Riak
future the project will have to rebrand.
This is the thing we disagree on. But like I said before, neither of us is a
lawyer, and even if you’re right, it hardly matters. It’s inconsequential.
I'm sorry, but no company in their right mind would seriously consider using
Riak today if they weren't already using Riak. That's today, the story may
change tomorrow.
Again, I disagree, but I’m personally not that interested in looking for new
Riak users at the moment. I think now is the time to shore up the existing
customers who want to stay with Riak. Chasing non-existent new business whilst
ignoring the core users is a large part of what did for Basho.
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 5:41 PM, Russell Brown <russell.br...@mac.com> wrote:
On 14 Jul 2017, at 23:36, Dave King <djk...@gmail.com> wrote:
You asked what difference the tm made. The tm invokes clause 6. So yes it
means moving forward means a new name. That's one of the things to be
considered.
Agree, so if we’re sticking to the subject, “Is Riak dead?” the worst case is:
“No, but potentially the name could be some time in the future”, right?
I asked rhetorically what difference the TM made. I’ve also read the license,
and taken legal advice. This was not in any way a surprise.
- Peace
Dave
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Russell Brown <russell.br...@mac.com> wrote:
On 14 Jul 2017, at 23:28, Dave King <djk...@gmail.com> wrote:
No, but I can read.
I read it too. I’m not sure what your point is. A day may come when the name
has to change?
- Peace
Dave
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 4:27 PM, Russell Brown <russell.br...@mac.com> wrote:
On 14 Jul 2017, at 23:26, Dave King <djk...@gmail.com> wrote:
6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade names,
trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor, except as required
for reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of the Work and
reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
So At minimum I read that as there would need to be a new product name, and the
docs for that product could say formerly known as Riak.
You are lawyer?
- Peace
Dave
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 4:22 PM, Russell Brown <russell.br...@mac.com> wrote:
On 14 Jul 2017, at 23:17, Dave King <djk...@gmail.com> wrote:
Looks like Basho has the trademark on Riak.
http://www.trademarkia.com/riak-77954950.html
They sure do. And if you look at the Apache2 license you’ll see that it grants
use of the name to identify the source.
Look, I’m not a lawyer, and I’m guessing you’re not a lawyer. What difference
does the name or trademark make? There are a bunch of active users of Riak,
some of whom have made it clear they plan to continue using it. Dance on
Basho’s grave all you want, but Riak isn’t dead yet.
- Peace
Dave
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 4:08 PM, Alexander Sicular <sicul...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 14, 2017, at 11:32, Russell Brown <russell.br...@mac.com> wrote:
What do you mean “encumbered”? Riak is the name of an Apache2 licensed open
source database, so it can continue to be used to describe that apache 2
licensed database, please don’t spread FUD.
You willing to invest time in a project that could be legally encumbered at
some point in the future because lawyers? You willing to put that beyond the
clown fiesta that is Basho? I don't think so.
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Regards
Steve Roberts
+44-7887-852-920
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