I feel that the community (as a whole) should be entitled to decide,
without having the decision pushed on them. I would prefer the Sun
logo not to appear on  any OpenOffice.org product.

Alex 

* Will lead to misunderstanding for users if other logos may appear 
(different builds)
* Doesn't respect OOo community as leaders have not been asked

Laurent

I would like to cite Joerg Heilig from releases@openoffice.org:
"I can clearly see your point and I agree that we (Sun) need
to better communicate upfront. In this specific instance I
need to apologize for not doing that. It was driven by the
gating factor "time". The RC5 build was supposed to be the
last build and I wanted this to be in there. So, do not blame
Martin, blame me. This was an important update for me as it
- allows to identify who has done the build
- gives better credit to many contributors including Sun
- shows the commitment and tight engagement of Sun in the
  OO.o project

It is amazing how many people, I talk to, have no clue that
Sun is contributing heavily to the OO.o project. My goal has
always been to create a win win situation. Giving credit
according to merit is one way to create this situation. I
strongly believe that the way the splash screen is designed,
is in a non intrusive but in a rather inclusive way, see
http://framework.openoffice.org/unbranded-source/browse/~checkout~/framework/offmgr/res/Attic/openintro_sun.bmp?rev=1.1.2.1&content-type=image/bmp"
of - mh: Would you accept this as a defect?

I agree with the comments above, and here are my two cents on this Issue. 

1. One problem is how the decision was taken. The OOo community has
representatives, rules and more generally, a spirit. To quote the
"Introduction" page by Louis-Suarez Potts, "Just that you respect the
other members of the community and understand that we are very serious
about this Project and what it means." 
I understand Sun is the first sponsor, but you also have to consider
all the people of the community working *for free* on that project.
Representatives of the community were elected, we trust them,
therefore their voice should be heard, and listened to, before any
company brands the OOo product, even if it is "only" a specific build.

2. The second problem is the distinction which should be *clearly
made* between _owner_ and _sponsor_. For the man on the street, if a
product has a logo on it, this means the product is _owned_ by the
company. For that same man on the street, a mention "sponsored by"
followed by a logo merely acknowledges the (sometimes enormous)
efforts made by that _sponsor_, without inferring any property right
on the product.

If there is Sun's logo on the splashscreen (and for the time being, I
have not formed an opinion), I feel it should be "Sponsored and
supported by [logo]".

Christophe

*** This issue has been confirmed by popular vote. ***

"...This was an important update for me as it
- allows to identify who has done the build"
- gives better credit to many contributors including Sun
- shows the commitment and tight engagement of Sun in the
  OO.o project"
The way it was made, it seems to say : 
- allow to identify who owns OOo
- gives better credit to Sun
- show the dominance and the power of Sun in the OO.o project

"I strongly believe that the way the splash screen is designed,
is in a non intrusive but in a rather inclusive way, see..."
To my eyes, it looks like "OOo1.1, a Sun product"

"of - mh: Would you accept this as a defect?"
What else is it? Enhancement? Feature?

I understand the concerns raised by above. And I have admitted earlier
that introducing this earlier to others in the community would have
been better. Because we, Sun, realized the importance of this change
rather late, we just had not have this time. Nevertheless the splash
just states "Build contributed in collaboration with the community by
Sun Microsystems, Inc.". This is a true statement that I believe is
totally in our responsiblity to add. If somebody else does the build
then it his or her decision to state in this prominent place who has
done the build. I will not accept a change for Sun build builds.

> "I will not accept a change for Sun build builds."

Well, the least that can be said is that you state your position
without ambiguity. I am wondering if there is still room for
discussion, let alone communication, on this Issue.

Sincerely,
Christophe

I mark this issue as invalid, as the plain vanilla build does not come
with that logo. Only builds provided by Sun comes with that. Other
contributor of builds have and will use this mechansim as well (with
whatever logo).
I would like to thank them all for their efforts and resources.

All right...

I think that the community should start thinking about making its own
builds.

Sun's communication and manners are definitively a problem for OOo's
project (as a free sofware).

Fred

Martin: 
where should we discuss this issue?

Votes on an issue are one opportunity to express the will of the
community. Thank you for setting this issue and so removing all votes.

I'm willing to welcome the logo under some circumstances, so I ave not
voted for this issue am I am not going to do so.

But closing this as invalid is just like ignoring the community.

I am more than open to continue to discuss this. The discussion
started on the releases list. I would suggest to continue the
discussion there. I will be on a plane from the US to Germany very
soon. So please are a little patient.
Thanks Joerg

I still did not decide on this issue
Looking at the splashscreen I get the impression that OO.o is a
product of Sun. The text will in most cases not be recognized.

"If somebody else does the build then it his or her decision to state
in this prominent place who has done the build."
<not very serious>
As a result of this the community has to find out, who takes the
decession which build comes on the OO.o server. Just imagin the
community conviced M$ to make a build and put it on the server: just
change the SUN againt M$ Logo and in the Text. The text to the left
would still be correct as the build would then come from the other
Office company.
</not very serious>

verified.

close issue.

Please, tell me what is "verified" ?