[Foundation] Jabber (tm)

[Sean McGlynn]

"I saw Zephyr after I had done most of the design and code for Jabber, so 
there wasn't much point in trying to retrofit Zephyr with the ideas I had. 
And I didn't want any commercial for-pay rip-offs, and the MIT license that 
Zephyr is under doesn't seem to prohibit it like GPL does."

- Jeremie Miller (jabber.org) Jan 1999 - 
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/01/04/1621211.shtml


"4.  Regardless of ownership, though, we understand the name Jabber when
used in a commercial product, service, company, or domain is restricted to
Jabber.com, Inc.  We think that it's OK to use something like "Jab" as part
of a name but are just double-checking that right now.  We do think that
something like "Jab"  can only be used in conjunction with the quality
mark."

- Michael Bauer (jabber.com) May 2001 -


This to me is "before and after", "open versus closed", "free versus  
controlled". Maybe I misunderstood the whole purpose of Jabber and why Jer 
created it, but if I did, I doubt if I'm the only one. I guess I'll just have 
to go "scratch an itch" that developed recently and create my own "truly" 
free IM/XML-messaging system. That's "free" as in beer and, more especially, 
speech. Once you start controlling who can and can't use the "J" word, 
commercially or otherwise, freedom of speech is lost.
Of course, my alternative will also have plugin support so that it can 
interface to commercial systems like AIM, ICQ and, these days, Jabber.

IMHO Jabber, the project and the ideal, has lost its way. Once you start down 
the "trademark", "brand", "foundation" and "certified 100% compatible" route, 
you're guaranteed to lose the support of many people like myself and thus the 
ubiquity that you desire.

I apologise in advance, especially to Jer, if all this sounds a little harsh. 
But then again I hope Jer, amongst all others, will probably understand my 
wish to create something new and free.
I've enjoyed following the project and I honestly wish you all the very best 
for the future.

Cheers,
Sean

-- 
Sean McGlynn
sean at tmiau.com