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Mozilla firefox is no more free software.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 19:12 UTC (Mon) by alonso (subscriber, #2828)
In reply to: Mozilla firefox is no more free software. by ballombe
Parent article: The return of Iceweasel

Why? Because you not agree with their policies in copyright? Do you think the same for RedHat? CentOS was born for the same reason!

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Posted Sep 25, 2006 20:43 UTC (Mon) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]

The primary difference is that Firefox is a program wheras Red Hat
Enterprise Linux is a collection of programs. The Firefox name naturally
would apply to all uses of that program in any combination with other
programs, operating systems, and contexts, but it is not permitted to do
so. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux name naturally refers to the particular
set of programs and packages put together by Red Hat for enterprise use.

Yes they are both restrictions, but one is a restriction of a name which
follows the natural use patterns of that name, while the other name
restriction is highly arbitrary and counterproductive for the normal use
patterns of that software and its associated name.

Mozilla firefox is no more free software.

Posted Sep 28, 2006 8:20 UTC (Thu) by Jel (guest, #22988) [Link]

No, because "free software" has a specific meaning, and these restrictions no longer fit it.

Mozilla firefox is no more free software.

Posted Sep 29, 2006 17:51 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

What part of the definition of free software doesn't allow this restriction?

The restriction on the software we're talking about is this: You can't distribute any derivative of this software under the name "Firefox" without Mozilla's permission.

For all the value I see in free software, I don't see any in free naming.