Guido at Google

[Steve Holden]

bonono at gmail.com wrote:
> Cameron Laird wrote:
> 
>>In article <1135239900.225499.263300 at g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
>> <bonono at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 			.
>>			.
>>			.
>>
>>>Well, this may be the CPython way of open source but I don't know if
>>>that is "Open source" in general. Another way is that if someone(or
>>>group) don't like the current state of a project, they fork. I don't
>>>know if that is possible in the context of python, and programming
>>>language in general. Can it still be called python ?
>>
>>			.
>>			.
>>			.
>>While I don't understand the question, it might be pertinent to
>>observe that, among open-source development projects, Python is
>>unusual for the *large* number of "forks" or alternative imple-
>>mentations it has supported through the years <URL:
>>http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.lang.python/python_varieties.html >.
> 
> The question is, can anyone just fork a new one using the python name,
> as part of the project, without the permission from the foundation ?
> Say for example, anyone want to implement java needs permission from
> Sun(or is it javasoft), if I rememeber correctly. Therefore, the only
> way to make change to java the language is to convince Sun, very
> similar to the model of Python. But many open source project is not
> using this model.
> 
Well the name "Python" is a trade mark of the Python Software 
Foundation. So if you invent another language and start calling it 
"Python" just to get an audience you should expect to receive a 
cease-and-desist letter.

regards
  Steve
-- 
Steve Holden       +44 150 684 7255  +1 800 494 3119
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