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The name "Python"

The name "Python"

Posted Jul 17, 2018 20:11 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769)
Parent article: Python post-Guido

It's an interesting point that a triumvirate is vulnerable to capture by an organization that employs two of the three developers. It sounds a bit paranoid to me (I don't believe commercial software companies are that evil, not even Oracle) but I can see why you have to design for the worst case.

The obvious answer is that if Python did get captured by some company, you could just fork it. Programmers and Linux distributions would soon switch to the fork if it were better managed. But then, could it still be called "Python"? Would you be risking a trademark suit by doing so?

Perhaps at the same time as Guido stepping down as BDFL, the Python Software Foundation should also step down from its control of the "Python" trademark. Their trademark usage policy talks about "the Python programming language" but this is vague and perhaps even circular. In my opinion it would be healthier to explicitly allow a broad range of uses even when the language specification has diverged (so projects like Tauthon wouldn't need to hide under different names).

Then you could be sure that even if the current Python organization gets into governance problems, Python the language and community will be able to continue.


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The name "Python"

Posted Jul 18, 2018 14:46 UTC (Wed) by malefic (guest, #37306) [Link] (2 responses)

> It's an interesting point that a triumvirate is vulnerable to capture by an organization

GvR has been consistently employed by various organizations throughout his tenure as BDFL, including Google.

Ultimately, the person or persons chosen as his replacement would be people with a great deal of respect and trust. I wouldn't worry about the "capture" scenario at all.

The name "Python"

Posted Jul 18, 2018 17:38 UTC (Wed) by antiphase (subscriber, #111993) [Link] (1 responses)

> I wouldn't worry about the "capture" scenario at all.

Nice try, Microsoft.

The name "Python"

Posted Jul 20, 2018 18:39 UTC (Fri) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link]

Nice one-liner! You forgot the "$" though.


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