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posted by janrinok on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-bet-that-the-money-wins dept.

The GNOME Project is currently grappling with Groupon, which has registered a series of new "GNOME" trademarks in response to GNOME's request that Groupon rename its new POS system.

From the gnome.org announcement:

"Recently Groupon announced a product with the same product name as GNOME. Groupon’s product is a tablet based point of sale “operating system for merchants to run their entire operation." The GNOME community was shocked that Groupon would use our mark for a product so closely related to the GNOME desktop and technology. It was almost inconceivable to us that Groupon, with over $2.5 billion in annual revenue, a full legal team and a huge engineering staff would not have heard of the GNOME project, found our trademark registration using a casual search, or even found our website, but we nevertheless got in touch with them and asked them to pick another name. Not only did Groupon refuse, but it has now filed even more trademark applications."

GNOME claims that it will need $80,000 to challenge ten of the new trademarks that Groupon has filed.

Related Stories

Update: Groupon Gives Up 'Gnome' Trademark 23 comments

After the uproar on the internet covered here yesterday, Groupon appears to be backing down on its Gnome trademarks, and says it will choose a new name going forward.

https://engineering.groupon.com/2014/misc/gnome-foundation-and-groupon-product-names/#updated

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:29PM (#114787)

    Let's be realistic here. Nobody is ever going to confuse a point-of-sale system with a graphical desktop environment for penniless basement-dwelling nerds.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by canopic jug on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:34PM

      by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:34PM (#114789) Journal

      Maybe not GNOME2, but many think GNOME3 is a POS system, especially now with the systemd dependency.

      --
      Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:36PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:36PM (#114791)

        Go shove your system-d up your a-hole, you piece of shit.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:57PM

      by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:57PM (#114799) Homepage Journal

      Are you being serious? I'm not sure, but I'll answer on the assumption that you are. IANAL, but I have looked into trademarks a bit.

      No, Gnome is not a POS system. However, it is entirely realistic to suppose that various POS systems may run under Linux, and in particular under Gnome.

      Trademarks are intended to protect names for an entire field of endeavor. If a trademark is distinctive ("Coffee Hut" would not be very distinctive for a coffee shop, "Starbucks" is), then it is entitled to stronger and broader protection. "Gnome" is distinctive; there is nothing generic or obviously software-oriented about it. The field of endeavor would be "software". Given competent legal counsel, GroupOn has zero chance here. If Gnome can prove that they notified GroupOn of the problem as soon as they reasonably could, and GroupOn doubled down with further trademark applications on the Gnome name, they should even have a chance to recover their legal fees.

      The shame of it is: the ought to be able to collect damages against the Patent and Trademark Office, but of course that won't happen...

      --
      Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:12PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:12PM (#114806)

        The field of endeavor would be "software".

        Then maybe the GNOME desktop environment shouldn't have stolen the name of the GNO/ME operating system [wikipedia.org]?

        • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:23PM

          by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:23PM (#114809) Homepage Journal

          A valid point. If Procyon had defended the Gno/me trademark, Gnome would presumably have (been forced to) use a different name. I expect they never bothered, since Gno/me was dying before Gnome really started.

          --
          Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:15PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:15PM (#114831)

        No, Gnome is not a POS system.

        Are you sure? [urbandictionary.com]

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:34PM (#114788)

    Hey assholes, why don't you call Poettering at Redhat for help?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:38PM (#114792)

      Because it's not trademark infringement, and getting all lawyery about it is a waste of money?

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:00PM (#114801)

        If that's the case, then why is GNOME crying for us to give them $80,000?

        Why are they asking for this money, even after alienating most of their users with the whole GNOME 3 debacle?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:26PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:26PM (#114811)

          They must be low on beer money, yet still drunk enough to try to pull a stunt like this.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:24PM

          by Arik (4543) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:24PM (#114930) Journal
          "If that's the case, then why is GNOME crying for us to give them $80,000?"

          Because they reckon some of us fools enough to respond, and hey, free money!

          No thanks, my donations go to groups that make positive contributions.
          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:38PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:38PM (#114793)

    I propose groupon formally rename their POS to "systemd"

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @08:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 15 2014, @08:50PM (#116247)

      p5kf0J aqtgqvdwigvl [aqtgqvdwigvl.com], [url=http://buwzsyxxxcnh.com/]buwzsyxxxcnh[/url], [link=http://zshmnvmrjlka.com/]zshmnvmrjlka[/link], http://piebhzmvqdtn.com/ [piebhzmvqdtn.com]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:41PM (#114794)

    They'll waste your donation on pointless shit like this frivolous challenge of a valid trademark application.

  • (Score: 2) by ticho on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:42PM

    by ticho (89) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:42PM (#114795) Homepage Journal

    Doesn't EFF usually provide pro bono lawyers for this kind of stuff?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:28PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:28PM (#114812)

      I hope they don't waste their resources on GNOME.

      The GNOME project should be allowed to die out or get killed in some way, whichever comes first. GNOME 3 has proven to us that it is an unnecessary project now, and one that is heading in the wrong direction.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:31PM (#114834)

        Translated: "No, they should only spend money on projects I care about"

        You're a marvellous human being, you...

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:25PM

          by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:25PM (#114857)

          GNOME is a Red Hat project. Red Hat has a shitload of employees; they can afford their own damn lawyers.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
          • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:09PM

            by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:09PM (#114874) Homepage

            Red Hat fucking suck. It is thanks to them that the status quo of the shit buggy dependency-hell that is Desktop Linux is maintained to this day.

            Hgglglglglgllaaaauuuuuughaghuaghauwawaa!

            • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:09PM

              by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:09PM (#114898)

              Hgglglglglgllaaaauuuuuughaghuaghauwawaa!

              Not sure if summoning Cthulhu is the best response to this, but what the hell--I'm game.

              --
              "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
              • (Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:51PM

                by mmcmonster (401) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:51PM (#114918)

                If they really want to have fun, they should see if they can get IBM to donate a few lawyers. I hear they've been bored since annihilating SCO.

  • (Score: -1) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:46PM (#114797)

    GNOME Project spokespersons vehemently insist that all gnome shaped lawn ornaments must be labeled as "little people for your lawn" instead.

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:44PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:44PM (#114822) Homepage Journal

      Christ, the green site's anonymous idiots have started flooding S/N with their drivel. AC, you dumbass, stop posting comments and start reading a few. There's a very informative comment above that explains why the GNOME desktop is trademarkable but lawn gnomes aren't.

      It's like Apple Records vs Apple computers. The record company lost, until Apple Computers started iTunes, and were forced to negotiate with Apple Records.

      Folks, please stop posting about stuff you are ignorant about unless you are asking a question.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:36PM

        by LoRdTAW (3755) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:36PM (#114837) Journal

        I am pretty sure that AC you are responding to made an attempt at humor, not fact.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:03PM (#114873)

          (Different AC here)

          On the net, it's sometimes hard to distinguished failed humour from actual stupidity.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:53PM (#114798)

    But wait. No. Even RMS isn't crazy enough to sue Linux distros for not calling it GNU/Linux.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:14PM (#114852)

      If RMS has the trademark on "GNU", then he could only pursue legal action against Linux distros which do use the "GNU/" prefix.
      Only the holder of the "Linux" trademark could go after those Linuxes that do not claim to be GNU.

      • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:38PM

        by mhajicek (51) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:38PM (#114910)

        So no gnus is good gnus. With Gary, Gnu.

        --
        The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by magamo on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:00PM

    by magamo (3037) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:00PM (#114803)

    I fail to see the relationship of GNOME to a PoS device, especially when Groupon's logo is so different. They're not plagerizing the foot logo, their gnome appears to be written in all lower case with a hint of colour in the logo. The trademark is upon a device, and marketing for such, not on a particular interface software (Though now that I think about it, there's a good likelihood that they've trademarked the interface on the PoS device with it too) But in no way is the connection obvious or confusing to me. GNOME is GNOME, this is gnome. Mind you, I'm not a trademark lawyer, but from a layman's perspective, GNOME has little ground to stand on in this one.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:30PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:30PM (#114814) Journal

      Check out the groupon gnome page: http://gnome.groupon.com/#intro/index [groupon.com]

      Now go to the gnome foundations page: https://www.gnome.org/ [gnome.org]

      Notice how the Groupon Gnome page shows a computer looking device with a UI? And the Gnome foundation shows a screenshot of a UI? To most of us on this site, we know the difference. Now pretend to be a layman, say a person looking to purchase a Groupon Gnome POS. But you as a layman: A. you don't know that it is called a POS, B. you think POS stands for "piece of shit", and C. you most likely only type gnome into a search engine. What do you get as your first result? The gnome foundations website. Here is their intro:

      GNOME 3: Ease, comfort and control
      GNOME 3 is an easy and elegant way to use your computer. It is designed to put you in control and bring freedom to everybody. GNOME 3 is developed by the GNOME community, a diverse, international group of contributors that is supported by an independent, non-profit foundation.

      For us in the know, this is a desktop environment for an operating system. For a layman, a vague description of some computer thingy. And right there on the front page is a computer looking picture, hmmmm, must be a cash register. Also, two buttons that read: "discover gnome 3" and "get gnome 3". How much do you want to bet a layman gets lost on the Gnome site trying to figure out how to download or buy a groupon gnome POS?

      So yes, this is technically too close to gnome, the desktop. You want an analogy? Write an operating system for the TI C6000 and call it Apple. Make a Linux tablet and call it the Outlook. Sure they are vastly different things but they collide in the same technology space. How is a layman to know that an outlook tablet doesn't run Microsoft outlook? I thought Apple OS was the latest version of OSX wtf is this crap and what is a TI C6000? You get the idea. If the markets were completely different, say you made a car called the Gnome, then you are going to be fine as there is no collision between the two markets.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:44PM (#114823)

      Firefox was renamed for less similarity to another product. Twice.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:58PM

      by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:58PM (#114844)

      All that is required is that it creates confusion in the minds of the customer. And since both of them are computer thingies that make pretty pictures, and this is targeting point-of-sale systems for businesses with owners with that level of computer understanding, it would in fact create confusion.

      There's a real case here, no question. I'll put it this way: If "Mike Rowe Soft" is a trademark violation, and it was, then this should definitely be a trademark violation. Imagine if somebody had started up a soup company named "Cheerio's": Even though it's spelled slightly differently from the breakfast cereal, and not a breakfast cereal, you can be reasonably certain that the courts would look favorably on General Mills enforcing its trademark.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:07PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:07PM (#114846)

        > There's a real case here, no question.

        Does anyone think if the situation were reversed that groupon wouldn't be hellbent to shut down the gnome guys?

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:58PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:58PM (#114972) Homepage
        Not even in the mind of a customer, merely in the mind of anyone apart from a moron in a hurry.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_moron_in_a_hurry

        Groupon do describe their gnome effectively as the graphical operating system, so it does seem black and white. I'm hoping that they get buttfucked by lethal lawyers of death for this either utterly incompetent or utterly cynical ballsup.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by tempest on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:25PM

      by tempest (3050) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:25PM (#114879)

      Trademarks need to be defended, and the Groupon product is in a close enough sphere where it's probably better to be safe than sorry. Maybe they win, maybe they lose, maybe they don't even really care, but if they don't defend the trademark it could be bad news down the road.

    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:41PM

      by mhajicek (51) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:41PM (#114913)

      How far do you think you'd get trying to market tablets as "Windows"?

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 2) by Marand on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:29PM

      by Marand (1081) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:29PM (#114989) Journal

      It actually seems like a valid complaint. Groupon is pushing the entire platform as gnome, including the software (and interface). Plus it's a tablet UI, and that's the direction GNOME has been moving toward. Like someone else here said, other trademark disputes have been lost over less similarity.

      That said, I feel no pity for GNOME in this and look forward to any potential ill will they garner by using donations to fight a legal battle. They've been a poor member of the FOSS "community" for years, with their heads stuck up their collective asses screaming "NOT INVENTED HERE!" any time somebody non-GNOME solves a problem and then coming back later with their own home-grown solutions, demanding that everybody else implement them for the sake of interoperability. Advancement through stubbornly refusing to play well with anybody else. (If this sounds similar to the systemd situation, there's a reason)

  • (Score: 1) by Darren on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:20PM

    by Darren (4786) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:20PM (#114808) Homepage

    I hereby declare shenanigans upon groupon. May we consume them as a team of piranhas consumes a cow.

    --
    Web Designer - darrencaldwellwebdesign.ca
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:29PM (#114813)

      The cow, she is wise to stay out of water.

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:26PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:26PM (#114931) Journal

        The cow, she is wise to get her broom... he declared shenanigans!!!!

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:40PM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:40PM (#114818)

    I guess a lot of people will be pointing out that Gnome 3 is a POS, too.

    --
    (E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
    • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:16PM

      by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:16PM (#114853) Journal

      Nah a "piece" of shit would require it to be less streamlined and easy to break up, more like KDE 4. I'd say GNOME 3 is more of a squirt than a piece ;-)

      As for TFA yet another example why tying "free as in freedom" to free as in beer is a fucking stupid idea, because without a good steady consistent source of capital it would probably be quite easy to bleed the small fry like GNOME to death with bullshit like the above. I'd say its pretty obvious that somebody at groupon has heard of GNOME and has not one single fuck to give, fully expecting to use their superior financial situation to crush the opposition...and sadly? That could easily work. There is a reason why obvious patent trolls make money, why companies get away with anticompetitive BS every day, and that is because a single court battle can cost insane amounts of money. That 80k might pay for the initial fight, but will it pay for the appeals and for the other patents I'm sure groupon will file? I'm guessing not and why I'd argue our entire legal system is a mess, those with large amounts of capital to spend simply get too much of an advantage.

      --
      ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:27PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:27PM (#114858)

        Considering the systemd hoopla these days, GNOME's tie-in to it, and the fact that Red Hat is backing GNOME, I kind of doubt they're just going to say, "Meh, let it die."

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:53PM

        by Arik (4543) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:53PM (#114920) Journal
        Except GNOME is no longer a community project. It's a SJW/propaganda factory for RedHat. RedHat has plenty of money and friends high up in government, let them take care of it.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:41PM (#114819)

    Screw desktop environments. I only need a simple interface to manage my windows.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:45PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:45PM (#114888)

      Recommend awesome xmonad

      (awesome is a WM name, although xmonad is also awesome)

      I used awesome for years, pretty good time, then the Haskell guys convinced me that using xmonad (written in haskell) would be just like sex with a supermodel, I'm sad to say its a pretty good time but not that amazing, oh and xmonad is pretty good too.

      Lets be realistic here, I need a way to spawn emacs and chromium and switch virtual windows by hitting alt-1, alt-3, whatever. Its pretty easy to F up an "environment" but pretty hard to screw up something this simple.

      If you're ever bored, search for a video probably titled something like "simple made easy" by a dude named Rich Hickey. His general outlook on LISP programming pretty much summarizes my general outlook on window managers/DEs. The more complicated it is, the worse it is. The simpler it is, the inherently better it is.

      • (Score: 2) by Marand on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:51PM

        by Marand (1081) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:51PM (#114996) Journal

        Recommend awesome xmonad

        (awesome is a WM name, although xmonad is also awesome)

        Another recommendation is notion [github.io]. Static tiling (+tabbed) WM instead of the more common dynamic tiling. I can't get into the dynamic tiling setups because I hate apps being resized arbitrarily, so notion hits the spot for me. Arbitrary tile layouts, multiple apps (tabs) per tile if wanted, hotkey switching of layouts (akin to virtual desktops), good multi-monitor support, etc.

        Worth a try for anybody interested in tiling WMs but turned off by the automatic layout changing most do.

  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:54PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday November 11 2014, @01:54PM (#114827) Homepage Journal

    This story will be there in about five minutes (someone bought me a subscription over there). I just wanted to give a hearty round of applause to the S/N staff. You guys deserve it, good work!

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:01PM (#114828)

    Great thread, here.

    I love how everyone gets all butthurt over this, while embracing the wholesale co-opting of their ecosystem by RedHate.

    Maybe groupon will win the lawsuit, countersue, and bankrupt the GNOME3 project forever.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:07PM (#114830)

      Editing for clarity:

      Not suggesting that anyone *here* is necessarily all butthurt about it--I was referring more to the whole GNOME ecosystem and their feeble twitter campaign concerning the matter.

      The schadenfreude is nice and thick at soylent...

  • (Score: 2) by morgauxo on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:28PM

    by morgauxo (2082) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:28PM (#114833)

    Where is the money coming from. I can't believe Groupon could be this stupid. Somebody is payting them for this.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:14PM (#114851)

      I hate GNOME.

      Is there a way we can donate to Groupon to help them in their battle? :D

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:51PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:51PM (#114889)

        Is there a way we can donate to Groupon to help them in their battle?

        Locally all groupon offers is crappy service "deals" like a $25 car wash detailing marked up to $100 and then groupon marks it down to $75 as a "great deal 25% off".

        Also groupon offered a lot of massages that cost $300 and I assume include a happy ending for that kind of price, and downright weird hard to assess stuff like life coaching (whats a fair price for life coaching aka parenting?)

      • (Score: 2) by morgauxo on Friday November 14 2014, @04:33PM

        by morgauxo (2082) on Friday November 14 2014, @04:33PM (#115941)

        LOL, I half agree with you. I'm no GNOME fan either. Sadly, GNOME is very popular among open source desktop users. If something hurts it we could lose users and as a result lose developers. Then again, with what desktop developers have been doing lately... Go Groupon Go!!!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:18PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:18PM (#114854)

      GNOME will not get enough cash, and be forced to change the project's name to systemd-desktop

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:37PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:37PM (#114838)

    So what happens in the post-groupon post-bubble era when someone picks up the GNOME trademark at the bankruptcy hearing?

    Its interesting to contemplate what 2016 might look like if Microsoft owns the gnome trademark by buying the remains of groupon. Or some random lawyer troll picks up the asset and tries blackmail against the gnome people. Of course it could be really boring and Google buys them or Amazon and they probably wouldn't care ... much.

    I'm just saying, you look at groupon, they're flailing around randomly trying to find any source of revenue... This appears to be one of those projects. That isn't a good sign for future success. Would not be too surprised if they're toast reasonably soon. And someone's going to pick over the bones, such as this trademark.

    • (Score: 2) by mrchew1982 on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:42PM

      by mrchew1982 (3565) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @02:42PM (#114839)

      What would be really nice is if an open source friendly company, say Google, decided to support the GNOME group and told Groupon, "pick a new name or we're going to flush you from our systems." I'm sure groupon would cry "foul" but it's just the same principle in action, a bigger business with more money steamrolling the competition.

    • (Score: 1) by kstox on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:40PM

      by kstox (2066) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:40PM (#114887)

      Groupon has been working on a "Operating System for Local Commerce" for years. This is not "new". Just a really poor choice of names.

      BTW, Groupon pronounces it as Know Me, not GNome.

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:59PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @04:59PM (#114894)

        BTW, Groupon pronounces it as Know Me, not GNome.

        When I hear "POS" I think "systemd", they could pronounce that as "Sista Dee", you know like "grandmaster B", for that cool multicultural street cred for urban iphone owning hipsters. I can see the commercials already, some hipster with 10 pounds of facial piercings and a square yard of tats saying "Pay for yo double mochachino latte with Sista Dee"

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:30PM (#114859)

    Gnome is a poorly managed charity which has diverted most of its revenue away from its chartered purpose (as listed in its IRS Form 990) to become a SJW cause. According to its 2013 990 report, Gnome had $506,477 in expenses, while having only $201,034 in revenue. It has high administrative costs -- the pay of the executive director was $91,180 plus another $56,111 in compensation from the organization and other outside sources. The amount spent on its biggest event promoting actual free software, GUADEC, comes to $35,770, while the Women's Outreach Program got $265,369. A program that doesn't even require that the software produced by sponsored participants to be related to Gnome. This not what the Gnome Foundation was created for. In fact, Gnome Foundation is just really a public-relations front for Red Hat. If Red Hat is worried about Gnome's foot trademark, then let them fund the lawsuit. Gnome already has retained a former Red Hat IP lawyer for the case.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:40PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:40PM (#114912) Journal

      If you are going to copy a post from the other site please try to find one that has some evidence of its allegations attached. If this is true (of which I have no idea) I'm sure someone posted some links.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Lagg on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:11PM

        by Lagg (105) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:11PM (#114927) Homepage Journal

        Given how easy it is to find I'm guessing the AC didn't find it necessary to directly link the report [gnome.org] (grep "Finances"). Really quite disgusting to see it all laid out on a table too. I have no sympathy whatsoever for them.

        --
        http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
    • (Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:19PM

      by Foobar Bazbot (37) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:19PM (#114964) Journal

      The amount spent on its biggest event promoting actual free software, GUADEC, comes to $35,770, while the Women's Outreach Program got $265,369.

      Still, could be worse. Imagine if they'd spent that $265k hiring programmers to make Gnome 4 (like Gnome 3, but more so)!

    • (Score: 2) by useless on Wednesday November 12 2014, @12:05AM

      by useless (426) on Wednesday November 12 2014, @12:05AM (#115015)

      To be fair, the foundation only paid ~25k of that for the WOP in 2013 (~250k was donated by various companies specifically for the program, the foundation paid out ~275k according to the foundations 2013 annual report).

      • (Score: 2) by Non Sequor on Wednesday November 12 2014, @02:31AM

        by Non Sequor (1005) on Wednesday November 12 2014, @02:31AM (#115051) Journal

        It still should have been turned down due to being outside of the Gnome Foundation's purpose. They should have directed the money to a charity where that project fit in and participated in it rather than running it.

        --
        Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.
      • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:00AM

        by Arik (4543) on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:00AM (#115084) Journal
        Oh, they ONLY wasted $25k dollars that was given to them for other purposes on this crap?

        Well I guess that makes it all better then, right?
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
        • (Score: 2) by useless on Wednesday November 12 2014, @03:21PM

          by useless (426) on Wednesday November 12 2014, @03:21PM (#115202)

          I'm not defending them, just correcting the parent posts figures.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:51PM (#114867)

    It's interesting they aren't revealing any of their 990 forms for the last several years. Apparently their emphasis on social justice and outreach take precedence over transparency and fiscal disclosure

    http://www.gnome.org/foundation/finance/ [gnome.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:04PM (#114923)

      > It's interesting they aren't revealing any of their 990 forms for the last several years.

      Wait, the AC right above you claims to be citing numbers from their most recent 990 form.

      Which AC is right? Or maybe you are both just bullshitters.

  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:06PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:06PM (#114897)

    Lets think of some new names for Gnome assuming they lose and have to change their name.

    I'm looking to new names for the gnome project, better than Gnomorreha or Gnomebola. Something that encompasses its obesity, its slowness, its lack of freedom for the users, its lack of an audience, its ugliness, thats why I went down the disease route, but alternatives are possible. Gnomebola isn't very good I trust you all can do better.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:57PM (#114938)

      Gnumonia?

    • (Score: 2) by DECbot on Tuesday November 11 2014, @07:45PM

      by DECbot (832) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @07:45PM (#114955) Journal

      Gnobesity
      Gnalzheimer's
      Gnout
      GNOlardassME

      --
      cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:28PM (#114965)

    Didn't the gnome foundation burn much more money than that on some pointless equality campaign of sorts?

  • (Score: 1) by Wrong Turn Ahead on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:12PM

    by Wrong Turn Ahead (3650) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:12PM (#114985)

    The people running the Gnome project ignored and alienated everyone in their devoted user base during the Gnome 3 switch. In some instances they were outright hostile towards those voicing even the slightest criticisms about the direction of the project or the poor attitudes of those running it. I have no sympathy for them, period. Groupon's actions are wrong but I don't care this time. Hopefully, Groupon will eventually do the right thing (or be forced to) and, with some luck, it will cost the Gnome project heavily (diverting money out of their corrupt hands). A cold reception from the community might cause the Gnome folks to reflect on how badly they treated us; and change for the better.

    TL;DR: There was a time when I would have gladly donated to help support Gnome, but not today. Fuck 'em...

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by ticho on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:51PM

    by ticho (89) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:51PM (#115014) Homepage Journal