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Lindows Takes a Hit in the Netherlands

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the taking-the-business-elsewhere dept.

diersing writes "The Register has the latest on it. Resellers of the Linux distribution Lindows in the Netherlands were ordered today to stop selling the product. Amsterdam judge Rullmann agreed with Microsoft that in many ways Lindows is 'profiting from the success of Windows' by infringing on Microsoft's trademarks." This seems to be a rather common occurrence lately.

8 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. It's not so bad by tobybuk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lots of people will get to hear 'Lindows' as a result of MS legal action who wouldn't have normally.

    As they say, all publicity is good publicity.

    I wonder what Michael's next trick will be.

  2. Seriously.. by Azureflare · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Could Lindows have made any worse choice of a name? Why did they think they could use Lindows and get away with it?

    I think either:
    (1) The marketing people are lazy
    (2) They feel they can get a leg up by sounding more like "Windows"
    (3) They thought Microsoft will be nice to them. (BWAHHHHAHHAAHAA .. Aha... ha...)

    Throw in the fact that Lindows looks SUSPICIOUSLY like Windows XP, and I think Lindows doesn't really have a leg to stand on.

    1. Re:Seriously.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, it's:

      (4) Use a very similar name to the very trademarked product name of your competitor in order to get said competitor to persue legal action which has more than a leg to stand on and then ride the wave of publicity and pretend to be a martyr to get sympathy from people on Slashdot.

  3. Lindows' Name by Ianoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've always thought Lindows and "LindowsOS" as they prefer it to be called sounded rather silly anyway. I think Lindows is a nice idea, and a good product, and an excellent way to get more people using Linux. However, much as I dislike some of Microsoft's business practices, I do think the name is too close, and I can see the judgement's point.

    Why not just call it Winux instead? ;)

  4. Point of the judgement by Riddles · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The whole point of the judgement is that the judge thinks that Microsoft has proven that Lindows chose the name Lindows because of its relation to Windows. And, since Windows is a registered trademark in the Netherlands, this is obviously an infringement. Remember, Windows in Dutch has no other meaning as it does in English; it is not a common word.

    Nobody can really claim that they chose Lindows for any other reason than the similarity to Windows. They could have chosen a lot of other cool names as Xandros and others have done. They didn't and they made the choice realizing that they might get into legal trouble for doing so.

  5. Make it Lindos by Tuqui · · Score: 4, Insightful

    change the name to Lindos or LindOS, in spanish it means samething like pretty

  6. Seems to me... by Reteo+Varala · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems to me that Lindows chose that name specifically to leech off of Microsoft's mindshare. Let's face it, can you give me another reason that would explain that choice in names?

    Add to this that the distribution acts a little too dangerously like Windows (complete with the default-administrator-user access), and I can't really say that Microsoft isn't justified in it's attacks on this company.

    I work in software retail, and one thing I notice is the number of people who are under the mistaken impression that Lindows is Windows. Add to that the number of people who think it's binary compatibility is perfect (it'll run all their old windows apps). I've yet to see Wine reach that level of accuracy.

    I will generally ward people away from this distribution, and point to the green or blue SuSE boxes on the shelf nearby; that's just as easy, and much more secure. (I used to point to the Redhat boxes, but since the personal version has been discontinued, it's more cost-effective for customers to buy SuSE)

    --
    The Penguin Producer
  7. Re:Sure... by Mr.+Troll · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they aren't trying to mimic MS Windows then why take a name so remarkably close to it? It is so totally obvious. Lindows is trying to ride on Ms's coat tails. The product may be totally different, but that isn't the point. Its just like that Panaphonics VCR, or that Magnetbox TV...

    Why not try "Linux ADVANCE OS" or something. Hell, Linux itself is becoming a buzzword now....

    --
    Kiss my shiny metal ass