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SCO Change Their Name to Tarantella

GoodPint sent in a story so bizarre that you'll swear I made it up because nothing interesting is happening 'cuz its august and everyone is on vacation... Whats left of SCO is now renaming itself. The best name they could come up with was Tarantella... conjuring up warm fuzzy images for countless investors, as well as limitless mock fodder for folks like me. Reminds of an old Onion story... "New Corporate Logo Changes Everything".

47 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by El+Huevo+Anales · · Score: 2
    I am really surprised, and a little concerned. What is this going to do for their image? I think they've spent so long building up a name.

    OT Why are all these companies changing their names to dances? Why not change Microsoft to Tango or Cha Cha, or maybe Horah if they want to go with an eastern feel.

    --
    Viva Anales!
    1. Re:Wow by Tet · · Score: 2
      Why are all these companies changing their names to dances?

      Well the SCO name change actually makes complete sense. Given that they've sold off the Unix business, the only product they have left is Tarantella, so they may as well name the company after it. The SCO brand name only has recognition in the Unix world anyway.

      The one I really don't understand is Scriptics, the company in charge of the Tcl scripting language, changing its name to Ajuba Solutions. Nope, don't get that one. Even if they want to distance themselves from being purely a Tcl company, the new name sucks!

      --
      "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
    2. Re:Wow by Chris+Johnson · · Score: 2

      I suggest changing Microsoft to Lancre Stick And Bucket Dance ;) ...it seems to have the same basic spirit...

  2. Well, Name Change... by suwalski · · Score: 4

    It's amazing what a name change can do. A new corporate image can completely change the meaning of the company, and it can motivate the employees. I'm not saying that this is necessarily happening in this casse, but a name change and even a new logo is healthy every now and then.

    1. Re:Well, Name Change... by ghoti · · Score: 2

      I am not sure if this is really such a great thing. Actually, that name (like many names nowadays) sounds pretty lame. Just look at the old name, that was the name of a business. But what does "Tarantella" mean? Or "Agilent", for that matter? "HP Medical" would have made a lot more sense. Or "Inprise", or ... All these names sound like pathetic attempts to pack a lot of meaning into a word, but that only leads to a name that just sucks.

      --
      EagerEyes.org: Visualization and Visual Communication
    2. Re:Well, Name Change... by BigStink · · Score: 2
      But what does "Tarantella" mean? Or "Agilent", for that matter?

      Agilent doesn't mean anything! This was discussed on Slashdot a while ago, as a result of this lengthy Salon article. In a world where the snake-oil salesmen have rebranded themselves as "management consultants", these expensive corporate rebrandings are the corporate equivalent of the Emperor's new clothes. And as long as the senior management of these companies continue to listen to the nonsense spouted by the management consultants, we're going to see a lot more of these name changes. I wonder who long it will take until sanity and common sense prevail?

    3. Re:Well, Name Change... by StenD · · Score: 2
      Was it Lenin that said "A little revolution now and then is a good thing."
      Well, it was Thomas Jefferson who said "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion." (referring to Shays's Rebellion). (And that was with 13 states. With his reasoning, we should be having a Shay's Rebellion every third year.)
      Maybe Corel should try the same tactic.
      At least they've ousted Cowpland.
  3. Meaning of Tarantella by scrutty · · Score: 3
    Its an Italian folk dance As featured in this reasonably well known poem

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    -- Oh Well
  4. Re:Bugs? Nah... Film Direction! by Bob+McCown · · Score: 2
    Im Quentin Tarentino, spokesman for Tarantella...

    Hmm, conjures up all sorts of interesting TV ads...

  5. No, its Dance Time by walnut · · Score: 2

    And here I thought those years of piano lessons were useless... A Tarentella is not a reference to Tarantino, but a reference to a lively dance to stave off a tarantula bite.

    --
    You say you want a revolution?
    1. Re:No, its Dance Time by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 2

      Okay, I was wrong. They're truly idiots (or perhaps this is part of that 'marketing' black magic I keep hearing about) -- naming themselves after a superstitious tradition for warding off impending doom...

      Why didn't they just call themselves 'Death Throes Unix' or 'We're Dead Meat, We Just Haven't Stopped Moving'?

      In short, What Were They Thinking?!

      -grendel drago

      --
      Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  6. Word association games - Tarantella? by (void*) · · Score: 2

    I bet they got that from the World Wide Web. But isn't this particular spider's poisonous? Is that a friendly corporate image or what?

  7. The rename game. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5

    Renaming always helps. Look what "Itanium" did for "Merced" and "W2K" did for "NT 5".

    I'm thinking about renaming my "Chevy" to "Jaguar", my scratch-built PC to "HAL 9001", and myself to "Bond, James Bond".

    --

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:The rename game. by orabidoo · · Score: 2

      too bad Intel didn't think of the "Itanic" pun. I bet they're wishin they'd called it something else by now.

  8. They've got a new product by Iron_Slinger · · Score: 4

    SCO, err Tarantella has a new product called, surprisingly enough, tarantella. It's basically a web app that allows different platforms to run applications through it.

    There is a demo here

    It's pretty cool, but it's dirt slow.

    They've got it set up so you can run Word or Powerpoint, a few unix apps, etc. all on your web browser.

    IS

    1. Re:They've got a new product by sporri · · Score: 3

      It's more that just a web app. It reminds more of metaframe than anything else. (why use that when you can have X/VNC :) It is really quite impressive and is used for instance on freedesk.com running applix (if you have not tried applix out then there is your change) it is tecnically impressive but not as fast as citrix and yes seems to crash. But it is an impressive product non the less. Read the docs at sco's website.

    2. Re:They've got a new product by melchoir · · Score: 2

      Tarantella has actually been around for a couple of years. They were a subsidiary of SCO but their product is really starting to take off. And now that SCO is falling under, I imagine this is a refocus of the company on a different flagship product.

      In regards to the Tarantella server, it is middleware which, when dropped into a workgroup, will web-enable Windows and *NIX applications automatically (assuming you have Windows Terminal Server). You can write a document with Microsoft Word and then switch over to Konsole to do some administrative work. I saw a demo of it at a showcase and it works wonderfully and seems very easy to use. It's slow but usable over a modem connection, but over a LAN, it's great! I encourage you to download the evaluation version available on the website http://tarantella.sco.com/dl-files/choice.html.

  9. Why is this so surprising? by mattdm · · Score: 3
    After selling the OS part of the company, their Tarantella product is pretty much all they have left. I believe that it even said in some of the stories relating to the sale that SCO wanted to refocus themselves around this product. So, this name change is pretty much completely expected.

    It's a shame that all the cool names keep disappearing. I'm glad 3Com has let U.S. Robotics live on as a product line name at least.

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  10. SCONIX? by v4mpyr · · Score: 2

    They should have changed their name to SCONIX. :-)

    Mmmmm... scones... :-9

  11. Why Free SCO Sucks by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 5
    Free SCO stuff sucked because they didn't want to release it. Their low-end server share was getting eaten alive by Linux (though it had been on its way out for quite a while) and so they thought they could jump on the bandwagon and keep making their money.

    Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Since they didn't offer anything (well, certainly nothing worth the price) that Linux didn't, they couldn't compete.

    SGI, on the other hand, has the right idea. By giving up IRIX and supporting Linux development, they're

    • freeing up mucho resources to work on hardware, their primary source of revenue (which usually came with the software) and
    • making an already good operating system even better, by working on the XFS port, XFree86 development, and numerous smaller projects (like the testing suite)

    SGI makes out well, and Linux makes out well. This is how free software can help companies, not a half-hearted attempt at releasing stuff that the company doesn't even want.

    -grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  12. or 'Monkey Piss' by walnut · · Score: 2

    Or 'Monkey Piss'... I've always been partial to 'Monkey Piss.'

    Yes folks, you too could look to find a cool sounding name, and face-off against countless other companies trying to Trademark/Copyright the same name and attempting to protect their own companies... you can battle it out through local courts, state courts, even the supreme court for copywright infringment or something similar...

    Or - for this limited time - you could show your true savy at making anything work and come up with a truly original name... I believe 'Monkey Piss' is indeed that name. Think about it...

    1. Instant eye catcher: Tell me the title of this thread didn't instantly catch your attention (unless it was immediately moderated to -1/Troll)
    2. People will remember your name - you instantly create name recognition... and I garountee any company named 'Monkey Piss' will instantly become the talk of the office and dinner table for that night.
    3. There are thousands of public domain/national geographic pictures of just this which you can instantly use in advertizing.
    4. You already have a mascott, and its way cuter than some creapy spider....even if it is peeing.

    Ok, well, maybe I'm on my own on this one.

    --
    You say you want a revolution?
  13. Re:It worked for sgi by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 2

    They used to be Silicon Graphics, Incorporated. And they had the coolest damn logo of any computer company, but now all it is is those rounded-off letters. Waaah! I want my cool cubey-thing!

    -grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  14. Uh, this is nothing new... by erat · · Score: 4

    For those who are not aware of the software SCO actually sells (and until the merger is approved, the software that they still sell), OpenServer and Unixware are only two of their offerings. They have been offering a virtual network server/client system called Tarantella for some time now. It mimics Citrix's VNC client for Windows, but Tarantella is run through any web browser (maybe Citrix's offering is as well; I haven't tried either, personally).

    SCO is selling off their server and service divisions, but they're keeping their Tarantella division. It's only logical that they rename their company after the only product they're going to be selling. Everything that made SCO known other than this new product is being sold, so in essence what is SCO if it only sells Tarantella?

    It's an odd name, yes, but the name change is logical IMNSHO.

    1. Re:Uh, this is nothing new... by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      Citrix has a product called NFuse which allows you to use a web browser. They have a pretty cool demo where you can run MS Excel in your broswer window. NFuse is free, but everything else from Citrix is insanely expensive.

      -B

  15. But just wait for the lawsuits... by Nuke+Skyjumper · · Score: 2

    ...when a recording artist mistakenly sues SCO because they couldn't tell the difference between Tarantella and Gnutella.

    "tarantella.. hmm.. tella.. that rings a bell! OH YEAH, PIRACY! LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT!" -Lars Ulrich, sometime in the future

  16. City of Taranto by Karmageddon · · Score: 2

    It has nothing to do with tarantulae, as in spiders. It has everything to do with the city of Taranto.

  17. The Future of Web Apps by 11223 · · Score: 3
    Welcome to the future friends, where it's not how fast your computer is, but how fast your bandwidth is! I've got an OC3, how much do you have? Nevermind that it would be a heck of a lot cheaper to just by a goddamn computer than to rent this OC3-connected IA, but I've got the bandwidth. And with GLX, I can even play 3D games over the network as fast as my friend's P60 with an S3 Virge!

    The long and short of it is that this is SCO's plan to destroy desktop computing - the desktop computing that kicked SCO's ass in the marketplace, and this is their revenge - by forcing us to rent OC3's to get our applications. With the help of Microsoft (.NET is just another name for the Tarentella idea), they will destroy the PC revolution out of fear of the Linux revolution. We must stop them!

  18. Why not "Tarantino"? by Apuleius · · Score: 3

    Their stuff (Like most software) gets written "from dusk till dawn" anyway.

  19. Yeah But... by Greyfox · · Score: 2

    IBM's doing much the same thing that SGI is, they compete for a similar market, and IBM's on much more solid financial footing. I'm not saying there's room for only one company in the free software world, but there may only be room for one in the commercial world. SGI's decided to play in IBM's space, so they're going to have to be pretty creative when it comes to product differentiation.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  20. Maybe they should go back to skateboards? by sunking7 · · Score: 2

    Isn't SCO the Santa Cruz operation that made some excellent skateboards back in the late 80's??? I don't know but everything seems to have gone downhill from there. Should have stayed in hardware...

    Tarantella? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Nobody's going to buy a skateboard from a company called Tarantella!

  21. It won't work unless it has "ent" on the end by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Tarantellent.

    Much better, isn't it?

    If you don't get the joke (or even if you do), go read this extremely funny and informative article on branding/naming over at Salon.

  22. not new by mattdm · · Score: 2
    This product isn't new (at least not in net time). The Linux version has been around since the beginning of this year, and on other platforms it's existed for at least a year before that.

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  23. The name is crap because ... by Decado · · Score: 3

    They probably had lots of cool names but tarantella was the only name for which they could still get a domain.

    --

    Slashdot: Proof that a million monkeys at a million typewriters can create a masterpiece

  24. Not slow... by fm6 · · Score: 2

    When you say "slow" do you mean the time you have to wait for the Java client to load, or the sluggishness of the user interaction? If the former, then that's a one-time thing. (Java, caching, yada yada yada.) If the latter, then that's a characteristic of thin/terminal/GUI systems, which is why I hate using such systems. (Did you click me? I guess you clicked me. I guess that means I gotta invert myself. OK, I'm getting ready to invert myself...) Despite behavior reminiscent of the ancient Age of Timesharing, terminal servers are all the rage. The only question is why the former SCO thinks it can compete with the established players in the area. Probably because it's they only product they've got left.

  25. [ot]Re:City of Taranto by AbbyNormal · · Score: 3

    No, you are half right. It has to do with Taranto...but it has to do with Tarantullas:

    And I quoteth:
    "The St. Vitus' dance became a real public menace, seizing hundreds of people, spreading from city to city, mainly in the Low Countries, in Germany, and in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. It was a kind of mass hysteria, a wild leaping dance in which the people screamed and foamed with fury, with the appearance of persons possessed. In these convulsive, frantic, and jerky dances, religious, medical, and social influences probably interacted in response to such things as the epilepsy-like seizures of persons suffering from the Black Death. Italy was afflicted with tarantism, an epidemic presumably caused by the bite of venomous spiders. Its effects had to be counteracted by distributing the poison over the whole body and "sweating it out," which was accomplished by dancing to a special kind of music, the tarantella."

    Source: Britannica.com

    Thank you...come again.


    -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

    --
    Sig it.
  26. The downsides of 'Monkey Piss' by Flynn777 · · Score: 2

    The problem with the 'Monkey Piss' name is that it is too easily turned into an epithet. 'Monkey Pus', obviously an undesirable association, will instantly be used by corporate detractors. Mock web site and fake ads will immediately start using a parody logo feature a festering sore on the ass of a simian, guaranteeing ridicule the world over. Competitive ads will feature tags lines like 'Monkey Pissing into the Wind' or 'Tired of being Monkey Pissed off?"

    No, 'Monkey Piss' is just not the right choice.

    I'd recommend 'Monkey Spunk.'

  27. They gotta be kidding... by ackthpt · · Score: 2

    It's a big, slow spider which usually comes out in the late fall to breed.

    Why not DragonsWest? Then I could sell them my domain name ;-)

    I really think SCO (pronounced: sko) is much better. But then, look what the name Fatbrain did for Computer Literacy. Who would have thunk a name which sounds too close to Fathead would be a success.

    I wonder if DogPoop.com is taken yet...

    Vote Naked 2000

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  28. Re:Tarantella is a dance, not a spider by StenD · · Score: 2
    In case that's what you were thinking.

    conjuring up warm fuzzy images for countless investors, as well as limitless mock fodder for folks like me
    It still conjures up those images, and still provides mock fodder. Most people are going to make the tarantella - tarantula association, even without knowing about the reality of it.
  29. SCO had a silly name to start off with? by shippo · · Score: 2
    Santa Cruz Operation has always sounded to me as if it were an arm of the mafia.

    Considering their involvement with Microsoft this seems very apt.

  30. So what about EU agreements? by Phrogman · · Score: 2

    I mean, if I install MS Excel I have to click on a licensing agreement that puts certain restrictions on my use of the software, etc etc. Amongst other things doesn't such a user agreement usually state that only one person can use the software at a time, or that it can only be installed on 1 machine?

    I went to their Tarantella demo page and made a useless little excel spreadsheet that adds two numbers together. I saved it on their system using their software. Therefore I have just used a copy of Excel which I (AFAIK) do not have the legal right to use - unless they have some special deal in the works with MS.

    The software ran rather slowly, but then I am on a cable modem - if I was directly on a highpowered internal corporate network connection it would probably work just fine.

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  31. Tarantella, roughly defined by CausticPuppy · · Score: 2

    "Agilent" is a completely made up word that is supposed to connote "agile."
    I put it right alongside other meaningless words, like "Sapient," "Integra," and many other recent names of corporations or cars.

    However, a "Tarantella" has nothing to do with spiders like others have said... It's a type of dance. A Spanish or Mexican dance I believe, in an energetic fast-3 feel (more like a fast 6/8 that's counted in two).
    It would be like naming your company "Waltz" or "Tango." Or Lambada if that's your thing.

    But "Tarantella" is obscure enough to leave many people scratching their heads... and thinking of arachnids!

    --
    -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
  32. Fond memories of the Old SCO by imagineer_bob · · Score: 2

    I have fond memories of the Old SCO! The Santa Cruz name was great! It conjured the image of hippie dope-smoking surfer dudes, which they were. They had a hot tub in their old building; I remember seeing the engineers walking naked through the hall to get to/from the hot tub! Those green-haired, dotcommers of today think *they're* cool--they should have seen the SCO of 12 years ago. That place rocked! -- ib

    --- Speaking only for myself,

  33. Re:Anti-SCO by Jason+Earl · · Score: 2

    The primary reason is that SCO has been denigrating Linux and the BSDs for years. They have been openly hostile to the Open Source community, and have come out against us in the press numerous times. Heck, quite a few of us have even received insulting faxes and sales literature from our friends at SCO. Basically even Microsoft hasn't treated Linuxers with as much disrespect as SCO has.

    Which is fine and dandy, I suppose. Or at least can be chalked up as part of "business," but from all accounts SCO has created some of the worst Unixen ever. I am fortunate to have never had to use it, but now that it is going away I am suddenly curious.

    Anyone know where I can get a hold of one of those "free" SCO CDs so I can see for myself how bad it is (was)?

  34. Pirates of Penzance, anyone? by Q*bert · · Score: 2
    Remember that scene where the Major General and his daughters are exhorting the cops to "Go to battle, go to glory, though ye die in combat gory?" The cops keep dancing around chanting, "We go, we go (yes, we really, really go), Tarantella, Tarantella, we go, we go," trying to postpone their departure to "die in combat gory".

    Seems like the perfect metaphor for SCO to me.
    ;)

    Vovida, OS VoIP
    Beer recipe: free! #Source
    Cold pints: $2 #Product

  35. OK, Let's play charades by Pike · · Score: 2

    Sounds like ... tarantula!

    -JD

  36. Rhyme ? by mirko · · Score: 2

    SCO was on sale.
    Caldera was insterested.
    SCO is old and lacks the image of an innovative company that it therefore is rather than an old companyosaur (IMHO their products SCO*Unix and UnixWare were reliable enough for server use).
    So, it sounds like that before getting bought SCO wants to refresh its identity with a new name.
    SCO doesn't rhyme with Caldera...
    Hence Tarantella ?

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    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  37. Tarantella.com by XNormal · · Score: 2

    According to WHOIS it's been registered since May 2, 2000. If find this surprising because they've been selling the product for much longer than that.


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    Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.