Re: [trinity-users] Re: [quite OT] [but important] TDE shirts

On Saturday 25 April 2020 04:04:09 deloptes wrote: Ideally, out of respect to those readers who want to be about ONLY TDE-Trinity technical matters (and NOTHING MORE): We really ought to have something like a forum, where such matters can be given free rein, without annoying them who don't want to read our dreaming and scheming. Readers can just skim over the threads, and choose what to read, or not. When it's like this, where everything gets sent out to the mailing list, and annoys some of the subscribers, well that's just not good for anybody concerned. But so this is where we are, and we can try to deal with it. Apologies to all who take offense; what follows is both verbose and prolix, and moreover, uses too many words. Myself, I would agree that less involvement with the business side of matters is definitely preferable. Who, after all, wants to keep the accounts, pay for servers, hosting, etc.? However, somebody does something now, or we wouldn't be here; so it seems to me that it is rather a question of how to bring it all out into the open, allowing members to get involved, if they have something to contribute in the way of resource, skills, background, knowledge, or useful business/legal connections. I do not want to see TDE taken over by a gang of Suits, who only see it from the point of view of business; I believe any business or legal arrangements ought to serve the collective interests of furthering development of the Trinity desktop, rather than TDE serving business or similar interests in profit or whatever. However, to take only the matter of branding: If TDE is to be circulated and promoted along side other desktops, gets included in the mainstream repositories such as Debian, Ubuntu, etc., then we will eventually be forced to establish copyright over logos, and any other unique details of design, and so on. This means that we will need at least some involvement in the dirty world of business. Otherwise, we create polo shirts and coffee mugs and mouse mats: but for what purpose, except to raise a little money, to keep development going forward, to ensure that TDE will still be available in the future, so that we all don't end up being forced to use ... ? some other desktop? If I recall, Mozilla (for example) is, or used to be, a non-profit organization. Just because a business is set up as a non-profit doesn't mean that they cannot make money; it just means that the nature of their business aims primarily at a public good, or a service to community. Some non-profit businesses in the US can make BILLIONS of dollars (e.g., hospitals and such); so much so, that the notion of "non-profit" seems rather like a word-game, that it is really just a trick to avoid taxes, and meanwhile the smaller non-profit businesses are sometimes overburdened with paperwork. In any case, there is no point in creating T-shirts, or any other items with TDE logo, name, catch-phrases, etc., if we do not consider these matters of branding and copyright. We might recall that Mozilla got all upset not so much that other people forked their project to create Seamonkey, Iceweasel, Icecat, etc.; but rather that they wanted changes in both name and logos. It was a conflict over branding and who owns the logos and names. And to take care of those matters, we will need some sort of legal framework and business structure; as well as a name, a place, and local address to call home, where mail gets sent, and so on. That can be a post office box, and whoever collects the mail can also keep the books, so long as there are some guidelines. And I agree with Nik that it seems best to avoid US jurisdictions, if possible. (I hear, through the grapevine, that Delaware is a good state to incorporate for businesses; I don't know if it is preferable for non-profits, but the information can be found.) In any case, we might think hard before establishing business in the US. Wait until the dust settles from all the weirdness going on here in the States ... say, another 20 or 30 years? ... before putting down roots here in the US, and our states might not be called "united" by that time. Moreover, legislators have very little understanding of their computers and smartphones actually work: witness the controversies over encryption and such. But then, so we decide (for example) to keep it as simple as possible, to use a fiscal host (as Slavek recommends). Now let's say that somebody in Germany has set up an operation to manufacture and sell T-shirts and polo shirts; another person, in France, is creating coffee mugs, some others in Russia have made TDE mouse mats; and meanwhile we have people in the US who want to buy these items, or otherwise contribute some money to the cause. How do we establish our name, slogans or catch-phrases, any kind of design copyright, unless we have some kind of legal framework, business structure, and a local address in some nation or other? Moreover, when these cottage industries manufacture TDE swag, how do we funnel the extra funds (above basic expenses) into an account where it may be used to further the development of TDE? Or shall we expect that these various operations will just hand it over out of the goodness of their hearts? What if they decide unilaterally to change something in design of TDE logo, name, slogans, etc.? for example, to promote a private agenda (political, religious, etc.), or if their products are just plain crap, and an embarrassment to the rest of us? All of these issues imply the need of some kind of legal framework and business structure. And I, out of everybody here, avoid that stuff like the plague. Nothing kills creativity so fast as when, for example, a group of Suits walk into a recording session; and I don't imagine that the Suits are much different in any other kind of creative work. But there it is. We need to have some kind of place, a locale in the real world, and this means getting entangled with local laws and government and business practices. As for *where* might be most suitable for our needs? I don't know, Switzerland? Belize? Grenada? the Bahamas? I hear that there are some abandoned or unclaimed rigs off the coast of the UK and Europe, and there is some spot of land that is not claimed by any nation, somewhere in Eastern Europe, if I recall. We could wait and hope that somebody discovers the mythical kingdom of Shambala ... that's always a possibility. Apologies for the length, but that's my rant. Bill