Re: Never ever use word BitKeeper if Larry does not like you

Stephen C. Tweedie
2003-03-14T16:59:31Z

Hi,

On Fri, 2003-03-14 at 16:37, Larry McVoy wrote:

> > I'd expect using a name like "BitBucket" to be much more at risk of
> > being a trademark infringement than merely claiming that a project "aims
> > to be BitKeeper compatible" or "can read BitKeeper repositories."
>
> But it can't read BK repositories in many cases. We support compressed
> repositories, it can't read those.

That's a fair point, but

"Goal of this project is to create version managment system
compatible with BitKeeper"

isn't actually claiming full compatibility.

And before you say it, yes, I know that being compatible with bk
involves _much_ more than just reading its repositories.

> That's the whole point. If we sit back and let people think that he has
> something remotely similar to BK, it devalues BitKeeper in the mind of
> those people.

Absolutely. I'm not questioning your right to get inaccurate
comparisons corrected or removed. I'm just questioning whether you have
the right to demand that _all_ comparisons with BitKeeper be removed,
even when they are truthful (eg. "this project can read some
BitKeeper[tm] repositories.)

Cheers,
Stephen