(pardon the top post, want the below for background reference only) I forwarded this to Mark Webbink, Red Hat's intellectual property attorney extraordinaire. Here is his reply: [snip from Mark Webbink] Directing people to a Google search is fine. It also wouldn't hurt to include somewhere in the documentation at about this same place the following statement: "While we encourage FEDORA fans to find new software that is compatible with FEDORA, downloading software from an unfamiliar site carries some risks. One reason some technologies are not included in FEDORA is because of concerns over known patents. So as you download, be knowledgeable about intellectual property issues and don't hesitate to ask questions of the host site making the download available." [end snip] I think this is a good solution Paul came up with, probably the best compromise we have. Including example search terms may be too clever, I'm not sure. How about the following paragraphs in the References section of a document (if included): "One of the powers of Fedora is the enormous community behind it. You will find that community is your best resource for using Fedora. To find popular and useful websites with information, use your favorite Web search engine, such as http://www.google.com. Try search terms such as: using fedora to <insert what you want to make Fedora do> fedora multimedia software fedora packages While you are encouraged to find new software that is compatible with Fedora, downloading software from an unfamiliar website carries some risks. One reason some technologies are not included in Fedora is because of concerns over known patents. As you download, be knowledgeable about intellectual property issues and don't hesitate to ask questions of the host site making the download available." - Karsten On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 11:31, Karsten Wade wrote: > On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 08:46, Paul W. Frields wrote: > > > I think, frankly, directing people to Google is always best, that way > > they generally end up with the information they want, and it's up to > > them to provide the search parameters. I'm not saying that's the way to > > handle official documentation, I'm only saying it's an alternative > > that's free of legal entanglements. > > I wonder if we could direct people to google with suggestions on search > terminology and usage? For example: > > "One of the powers of Fedora Core is the enormous community behind it. > You will find that community is your best resource for using Fedora > Core. To find popular and useful websites with information, use your > favorite Web search engine, such as http://www.google.com. Try search > terms such as: > > using fedora to <insert what you want to make Fedora do> > fedora multimedia software > fedora packages" > > The search results that return for those search are not controlled by us > in any way. There are often more than 10,000 results. We can in no way > be held responsible for what is on those pages. > > Of course, IANAL, TINLA. Just an idea I personally am having. > > - Karsten > -- > Karsten Wade, RHCE, Tech Writer > a lemon is just a melon in disguise > http://people.redhat.com/kwade/ > gpg fingerprint: 2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115 5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41 -- Karsten Wade, RHCE, Tech Writer a lemon is just a melon in disguise http://people.redhat.com/kwade/ gpg fingerprint: 2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115 5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41
