renaming project

[Aaron Bartell]

Hi all,

Good news: IBM would like to contribute to this repo. Along with that they (the lawyers) have asked we change the name. In short, they want to protect their brand. I am an ISV with brands so I don't have much issue with that and I "get it".

This Bitbucket Issue is meant to inform the general public of the name change and also convey how we the community can keep from stepping on IBM's brand in the future.

Some things to note:

• IBM-copyrighted projects start with "IBM i", so don't ever start project names with that set of letters.
• The proposed project rename is to something like "Dash for IBM i" (the word "for" is important from a trademarking perspective). The IBM trademark team will not approve of a project with a name starting with "IBM"
• Community: In the future, we should not not name any repositories starting with an IBM trademark (this includes DB2, IBM, i, etc) and preferably prefix the IBM trademark with "i"

So, the best rename seems to be "Dash for IBM i". IBM has said we can waive changing the actual URL name of the repo, but I think it would be best to change it (opinions?). Renmaing a Bitbucket repo will cause the previous URL to show http 404 (not good), but deleting a repo allows for a redirect URL to a new repo. I think this would be the best solution.

##Opinions?

#Name Ideas Pete Helgren started thinking of creative names. I think that's a cool idea. Below is a list of what people are suggesting in the below threads. Please respond with your own ideas for names.

• Dash for IBM i
• Dasheen
• Dashi

[Liam Allan]

Hi Aaron

Thanks for letting us know. This, really, is a good move - if IBM are willing to help contributing to an open-source project and only ask for a name change then really there is no reason not to.

Since this is an open-source project, licencing is now a big topic for this project since a large company are getting involved. You have already told me that it's going to MIT, but I think that should have been mentioned. With MIT, people will still be able to contribute (the main point) and the code that you contribute will be yours (+ your name should go into the AUTHORS file). You can read more about MIT here.

Thanks again Aaron :)

[Robert Brown]

How committed are you to using DASH as part of the name? IBM has a database product called dashdb. IBM dashDB offers fully-managed, SQL database services for transactional and data warehousing workloads.

[Jesse G]

Greetings. Some notes and clarifications for all:

• IBM is NOT issuing any kind of "cease and desist" and there is no legal requirement to change the name. Rather, we're asking for voluntary cooperation to facilitate future IBM contributions to this project.

• The issue is not with "i" as much as it is with "IBM" at the beginning of the name. And, it's not just a trademark issue. If IBM'ers are contributing to a project named "IBM somethingsomething," that project may be incorrectly perceived as an official IBM delivery (secondary implications arise). This is a policy consistent across many companies. Microsoft would likely not contribute to a non-Microsoft project named "Microsoft SoAndSo". Oracle wouldn't contribute to "Oracle ThisAndThat". etc

• IBM legal is not looking to stomp on the innovation happening in our open source community right now. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Processes and guidelines have been loosened considerably to allow for things like 5733OPS and our contributions to public projects. Further, our legal team will be preparing a trademark letter for Litmis granting them explicit privilege to use the IBM name in the URL's (not even needed, but we're going out of our way to pedantically protect our valued community)

• If you name an open source project "IBM ____," don't expect lawyers to come beat you up. At most, it may be an obstacle to IBM's participation in your project.

That being said, my vote is that we change the Overview page to say "Dash for IBM i" and call it good. I don't want this to inject any inconvenience or churn for the active references or forks out there (and I also don't want to call any attention to what may be incorrectly perceived as IBM legal interference in open source activities).

[Brian Garland]

"Dash for IBM i" sound good to me.

Many past projects have shortened that to 4i, but I think spelling it out would be better.

[Aaron Bartell]

Hi Liam,

With MIT, people will still be able to contribute (the main point) and the code that you contribute will be yours (+ your name should go into the AUTHORS file).

Good point. Yes, the license will remain at MIT. Really just a name change so we can get more contributors and be respectful of IBM's investment in their brand.

And yes, if anyone contributes then please create an AUTHORS file and add your name.

How committed are you to using DASH as part of the name?

Always open to creative fanciful names :-)

That being said, my vote is that we change the Overview page to say "Dash for IBM i" and call it good.

Jesse, I'll do that now. Thanks for clarifying. I hope I didn't open a can of worms. Since IBM i Dash has been written about and mentioned publicly I wanted to make sure people knew why we were changing the name and it was for good and reasonable reasons.

##Looking forward to this project gaining momentum.

[Pete Helgren]

We spoke about this yesterday and although I haven't explored the specific features of the product, keeping it platform neutral is always a plus. Most OSS projects don't have references to the underlying technology or company (Node.js for Windows, or node.js for Microsoft, at most it might refer to a framework like node.js for .NET - BTW these are all contrived examples...) So I like something more creative and fanciful and though I mentioned "Dasheen" as a completely random thought, it has kind of grown on me. Dasheen is a part of the Taro family which is a versatile staple in many countries and crosses many economic boundaries. Weird name and reference, I know. Maybe TOO weird for a project like this :-)

[Aaron Bartell]

Pete, I was also thinking more creative/fanciful names might be in order; either for this repo or future ones. Besides, getting suggestions for a new name, and subsequently voting on it as a community, is good fun.

I will edit the main post with suggestions people make on this thread. Please make sure all name suggestions aren't already taken on npmjs.com.

[Aaron Bartell]

Marking this as resolved.