[Cialug] Linux Trademark -- What do you think of this?

[Travis Beaty]

Hello everyone.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050816092029989

There is apparently a development in Australia where a company, supposedly 
under the authority of Linus Torvalds, is demanding that people pay to use 
the Linux name.  I looked on the "LMI" website, and they also have 
information on buying a license to use the Linux penguin.

Granted, this issue is in Australia right now.  And I can, in a way, see the 
argument that Pamela Jones makes on Groklaw.  But, in my opinion, this is A 
Very Bad Thing, and it's just a matter of time before people here in the U.S. 
start getting these letters.

What do you think?  Should we all quit calling our operating systems "Linux," 
and call it a "GNU Operating System," as a Groklaw commenter suggested?  
Should we all start creating GUGs instead of LUGs?  Must we find a new 
mascot?

It almost sounds to me as though someone in the Linux world has been copying 
pages out of Microsoft's playbook, and frankly, I'm a little ticked.

That is of course my opinion.  Your mileage may vary.


Regards,

Travis Beaty
Osage, Iowa.