Changing splash screen ?

You should watch where you step jamcomm.

MarkoMLM is the developer of OpenOffice.org Portable and is the one who knows such licensing issues as the question posed above. I suggest you keep your nose out of where you have no knowledge.

jamcomm, please stop chiming in on threads where you don't really know what you're doing. Once again, you're ignoring trademarks. Marko is one of the OpenOffice.org developers (as in OpenOffice.org itself, not just PortableApps.com) and we have specific permission for the changes we made to the OpenOffice.org splash screen and to be able to call this OpenOffice.org. Certain changes require you to change the name (see Oxygen Office, which was required to change their name from OpenOffice.org Professional).

Again, as you must well know by now, while you are correct about open source, you fail to consider trademarks.

An open source program can be altered and redistributed, even if the only change is a simple rename. This is true and you're right about that.

However, if any part of it is trademarked or copyrighted, that part must be removed, or permission must be obtained. Trademark/copyright and open source are not opposites, are not mutually exclusive, and can, in the case of many popular open source applications, work together.

A great example of open source working as you say is SubDownloader, a subtitle acquisition program. The Linux version is free, but the Windows version costs $5. Under the terms of the license, the source code can be compiled without the shareware limitation. OpenSubDownloader is the result of this effort. The Pirate Bay also hosts a copy of SubDownloader, not renamed, but also with the shareware limits removed. Despite TPB's reputation, this version is no more illegal than the other. There are a few things the author could do, but the author doesn't care much (he's said he's considering removing the shareware limitations altogether, but just feels that the Windows users should contribute, since Windows costs so much, something like that).

Firefox and other Mozilla products, the PortableApps.com Platform (and Installer), and OpenOffice.org are all examples of open source software with trademarked or copyrighted names. Most freedoms granted under an open source license are intact, but you have to be aware that the open source license does not cover the name and logo any more than it covers, say, your DVD collection. The license is for the software only, not the name and logo, which have another license. You can't distribute a DVD-ROM of, say, the entire Star Wars saga and say you have the right to just because Firefox, an open-source computer application, is up there. You are still in violation of copyright regarding the films. Same here.

By continuing to overlook copyright/trademark issues without questioning myself and others when they post this information, you are sending a message that you really do not care what is true, and indeed post only to annoy and harass others. Some are convinced of this already. Will you learn from this topic, or will you prove their suspicions correct? [You are] fully capable of deciding your own destiny. The question you face is: which path will you choose? (Sarek, Spock's father, Star Trek '09)