Mods: Delete this if you think that this is not appropriate.

I found this rather amusing. If you go to www.unix.net now you will see the OpenGroup selling license plates that read "Live Free or Die/Unix/Unix is a trademark of the OpenGroup"

(http://www.unix.net/unix_plates.html)

I just found it ironic that the "Live Free or Die" OpenGroup has cost Neo and Silkroad (my assumption) $25,000 fighting over the www.unix.com domain.

aus,

For the record, UNIX.COM is held by a trust and the trust is ultimately responsible for all expenditures associated with UNIX.COM. Silk Road donates (provides) the hosting services and provides my system adminstration labor to operate and maintain the forum, from a technical perspective. We do this to support the trust, from a technical perspective.

We personally don't have any ill feelings toward the Open Group and understand their desire to dominate the unix world and attempts to enforce a trademark that has long become generic.

The Open Group generates revenue to support their meetings and directors, etc. by requiring all unix vendors to pay fees to them. When an eventually and ultimate trademark ruling cancels the unix mark (because it can be proved in a court of law that the term unix has been generic for many years), The Open Group may find themselves in a difficult time to generate revenue by selling rights to use a generic mark.

It is simply a matter of time before the Open Group makes someone angry enough to go to the trouble and expense of having their claim to trademark cancelled. They are very intelligent people and they are certainly clever enough to know that their claim to trademark rights is skating on extremely thin ice. It is my hope they are clever enough to skate appropriately.


Accordingly, the term "Live Free or Die!" seem very appropriate.

Sorry for my late reply to this great news!
Also, I appologize for perhaps posting this to the wrong thread - I didn't want to start a new one, and the others that I saw were closed.

First off, let me say congrats on the decision.
Secondly, I finally checked out your legal representation... Incredibly, their Newport Beach office is housed in the same building as my new employer (interestingly enough, the very employer that has sufficiently busied me to the point of having very little time to read unix.com...)! I thought CPH sounded familliar...

Anyways, not to drone on completely too long, and not to offer any money to the collective unix.com, but if you're ever in this area, drop a line, and the beers (or wine coolers or water - whatever) are on me.

Thanks.

Just to show there are no hard feelings, notice the link to UNIX Standards. The Open Group did not request this, I thought it would be nice to provide a link to their work in the UNIX standards arena, for those who might be interested in such things.

What do you think?

Personally, and with no recomendation from anyone else, I have to say that the so-called "Unix standard" is not much of a standard. As I understand it, it costs a considerable amount of money, and is not really looked for in the purchasing of a product by a large company.

For example, at work we do have Solaris systems, which some versions are allowed to carry the UNIX name, but we also have many others, from Linux (not UNIX) to old versions of Unixware running concurrently on our mainframe system - from before UNIX was just a name as opposed to a real product...

All we care about are true "open" standards - My Linux box can talk to the NT servers, the Novell servers (via IPX), and amazingly, to a limited degree, the mainframe itself.

Try getting a "real" "UNIX" to do that...

"Open", my ass...

On the other hand though, I do see the links and infomation as a very positive gesture, almost offering a hand to those who would rather see you go away. You truly are a better person than I - I would spit on my attackers.

Eeewwww!!!

That makes for a bad quote...

I have to agree with LivinFree. I would only offer up the link after a one time administrative linking placement fee of $25,000.

When I first saw that, I wondered if it was part of some settlement.

And I extend the same offer as LivinFree. If Neo is ever down here Texas way I'll take him out for some of the best damn BBQ there is.

No settlement or discussions with 'The Open Group' has happened. I am just trying to be kind and forgiving in a world of where those traits seem rare.

On the other hand, I agree that it *really* takes a leap of the imagination to find a group that charges very high membership fees, fees for standards documents, sells no true commercial product, fights to make it hard for all 'real' unix people, and attempts to reverse-hijack Internet domains as "OPEN".....

However, I am willing to forgive them. Ghandi said something like "An eye for an eye and the world is blind." ........

However, if everyone objects, I will remove the link, or perhaps remove the top level category?

If it is really offensive to the users, I will consider removing it from the top level, etc. I'm open to suggestions.