Business of branding [Re: Brading for GNOME games]

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007, Nicu Buculei wrote:

> Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:12:05 +0300
> From: Nicu Buculei <nicu_gnome nicubunu ro>
> To: Gnome games <games-list gnome org>
> Subject: Re: Brading for GNOME games
>
> Sean wrote:
> > Recently someone brought up the idea of some kind of branding in
> > AisleRiot(this could apply to GNOME games in general), like a foot in
> > the background. On the contrary Jakub Steiner said we have enough "feet"
> > on the GNOME desktop.
> >
> > Should we have some kind of branding or should the new redesign of GNOME
> > games, just be games with out some sort of branding be it subtle?

If it were me - it is very unlikely - I'd incorporate a gnome foot into a
special ace of spades design and leave the branding at that.

> I asked something similar on this list last year and the overall
> reaction was along the lines  of "we aren't interested in branded games"
> (I asked then about marbles in the Same game and such and even uploaded
> some examples in bugzilla).

I would however keep in mind that the GPL fully allows some third party to
repackage Gnome Games with entirely different artwork, if I recall
correctly Nicu created a Fedora themed set of Artwork for Same Gnome which
the distributor could add in later.  People have joked before about a
"Barbie Linux" distribution but there is a grain of truth in that joke.
The idea could work for freedom software so long as it was carefully aimed
at a paying audience, just as ringtones and artwork can be sold to phone
users who are accustomed to paying for the service.  (There are other
tactics of shareware developers I believe are not incompatible with the
GPL but the profit margins are thin not usually worth the hassle. Tactics
like a developer asking for "donations" to cover the extra hassle and
expense of creating versions of their software for windows.)

-- 
Alan