On May 14th, the Brazilian Joomla community was surprised to learn that the website Joomla.com.br was to be sold. This site is the main domain for Joomla in Brazil. We understand that the owner will use a blind bid process, that is, the bidder who offers the most money will win, regardless of the reason for wanting to purchase the website.
The Brazilian, as well as the International Joomla community, regard the decision to sell, instead of donating the website, as unfortunate and unhelpful. We understand that the main reason for selling it, is the administrator’s lack of support in providing news and tutorials, and in maintaining the website live. We also understand that the administrator says that he is going to donate part of the money he receives to Open Source Matters (OSM), which owns the international rights to the Joomla brand.
Although we do not agree with the rationale for the sale, we respect the decision that has been taken, living as we do in a democratic country with a free market economy. Unfortunately we, the members of the Brazilian Joomla community, do not have the means to buy the domain ourselves as we understand the purchase price will be in the neighborhood of twenty thousand dollars.
The sale of the website raises a number of issues for the Brazilian Joomla community. First of all, we are concerned that the new owner may use it for the wrong end, getting his visitors think that Joomla is a commercial product. Those of us who support Open Source believe that this would be the worst case scenario for the future of Joomla in Brazil.
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