| Ubuntu stays Foxy |
Oct. 29, 2006
 Eagle-eyed Ubuntu 6.10 users may have noticed that their favorite new version of this popular Linux distribution has an old friend: Firefox.
Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft installs with Firefox onboard
(Click to enlarge)
While the Debian community has decided that Mozilla's restrictions on its logo and name are unacceptable for its free software community, Mark Shuttleworth -- founder of Ubuntu and its commercial brother Canonical Ltd. -- doesn't see it that way.
 In a note to his blog, Shuttleworth explains that he sees both sides of the Firefox issue. "Both groups really, genuinely mean well," Shuttleworth said. And, "Both groups are being entirely reasonable about their positions. Debian has every right to insist that it have the freedom to ship the package in the form that it deems most appropriate for its users, and Mozilla has every right to protect its trademarks."
Shuttleworth also said, however, that "it's worth bearing in mind that Debian's position on both free software and trademarks is very complex and not entirely consistent." He cites, as an example, the issue of Debian's own trademark restrictions.
An example of Debian's own trademark defense in action was when the Debian leadership forbade the DCC Alliance -- a group founded by companies that ship Debian-based Linux distributions and the Debian distribution's founder, Ian Murdoch -- to use "Debian" in its name.
In Ubuntu's dealings with Mozilla Corp., Shuttleworth was able to "establish that it really is possible for a distribution that cares about free software and Mozilla to agree on a framework which gives us both what we need." So it was that "in the end the fact that we kept the lines of communication wide open meant that we were able to find a middle ground and ship the packages we want while still supporting the Firefox name and Mozilla's work. Nobody sold out."
Shuttleworth now hopes that "the lead we have established with Ubuntu and Mozilla will benefit Debian, establishing a precedent that allows both groups to get what they want. But I also think that it may just be that the needs of the two camps are incompatible. And that in itself is a reasonable thing."
After all, Shuttleworth reminds everyone, "We are all committed to 99.9% of the same vision. We have far more in common than our colleagues and counterparts at Microsoft and Opera and other proprietary browser vendors. Let's make sure the tone and the scope of the dialog between us reflects the full reality of our alignment (and in truth also our disagreements) rather than just the specific small stone in one shoe."
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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