[Koha-devel] KOHA version 3.0, my question is about the advantages of KOHA 4

[Clay Fouts]

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Chris Nighswonger <
cnighswonger at foundations.edu> wrote:

> standard. In the Koha community that standard has long been the code
>
base in the main repo. So every fork is by definition only as nearly
> "Koha" as it conforms to that standard. Thus, the larger the delta
> between the fork and the main repo, the less the fork can be said to
> be "Koha." Its an inverse relationship if that is clearer. At this
> point in history, LibLime's fork has a pretty large delta and so is
> less "Koha" than other forks.
>

You speak like you haven't looked at the BibLibre diffs. I don't know that
they're at any less of a delta than LibLime, and it's only getting larger.
They are a very productive group. Where is your indignation when they call
their product Koha? Software Coop, who apparently has no ambition to back
port their own code, sells "Koha" support. Do you tell people that their
software isn't really Koha? These folks are obviously selling work that
differs remarkably from "Koha" as you've defined it, and to my knowledge
they don't even differentiate it with a "BibLibre Koha" or a "Software Coop"
Koha the way that LibLime has chosen to do.

You can be chafed at the fact that LibLime took liberties that you don't
like with the koha.org website, and I can accept and empathize with that.
However, your contention that LibLime's code "isn't Koha" and somehow these
other projects are is rather incoherent.



> Liblime only owns the US trademark usage of the name "Koha," and last
> I looked, the US does not dictate world trademark law. Koha is much
> bigger than LibLime (as much as LibLime might pretend otherwise). So
> just as you are free to have your opinion, the Koha community has
> their opinion: There is no confusion to those in the know. The Koha
> community produces and holds the standard against which all other
> things calling themselves Koha are judged.
>

The frequency with which we hear the phrase "New Zealand Koha" at
conventions suggests the confusion may be deeper and more widespread than
you have led yourself to believe.

Regards,
Clay
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