this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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It seems that the Linux Foundation has decided that both "systemd" and "segmentation fault" (lol?) are trademarked by them.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“Patent troll” and “required actions to preserve trademarks” are two totally different things. The former is objectively bad in all ways. The second is explainable if there truly is a trademark and said gear infringes on the trademark and may be excusable if the Linux Foundation is forced to act to preserve their branding (trademark law is weird). It’s even more explainable if this is a shitty auto filter some paralegal had to build without any technical review because IP law firms are hot fucking mess. I’m also very curious to see the original graphics which I couldn’t find on Mastodon. If they are completely unrelated and there was an explicit action by someone who knew better, the explanation provides no excuse.

Attacking any company because the trademark process is stupid doesn’t accomplish much more than attacking someone paying taxes for participating in capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why does the Linux Foundation even have a trademark process for "segmentation fault"? According to the poster on Mastodon, these words were the whole design.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just like champagne only comes from the champagne region of France, true segmentation fault only comes from a linux program shitting itself.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Linux is the imposter here. Segmentation fault refers to how the PDP-(I forget) hardware organized memory. It comes from the original unix implementation which linux has never had any part of.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

x86 and x86_64 still have segment registers so it's not exactly entirely archaic, but they're not really relevant so that doesnt change what you said. I dont have the exact details on who implemented segmentation first, so I cant elaborate on that.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The complaint is not about the terms "systemd" and "segmentation fault." Those are the titles of the affected artworks. Presumably the artworks themselves contain some trademarked property.

Also, this is utterly unrelated to patents.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

FSCK Systemd

Segmentation Fault

The content isn't anything to write home about. I don't really get it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for finding these. I couldn't see them, so I assumed they were removed in response to the complaint.

You're right, there doesn't appear to be anything here to object to.