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Lindows becomes Lindash
Daveh writes "The Register is reporting that 'The operating system Lindows is now available as Lin---s (pronounced: Lin-dash) in those countries where Microsoft has blocked the availability of the desktop Linux distribution. The new name complies with a recent Amsterdam court ruling (PDF), the San Diego company says.' There are a few new sites to reflect the name change, including Lin---s.com and Lindash.nl."
They obviously arn't happy about the change, seeing as how their current front-page picture shows a hang-man with only d, o, w left in the letter-box. (Lin_ _ _ s might be a better way to put it.)
"For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
Anyone else get the feeling that this particular distribution will end up being the 800-lb gorilla just because of the name change? I would almost be willing to wager that the forced name change will drive people to it, not from it (even though the name is dumb).
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
Hilarious ... another great moment in sarcasm history, and yet rather thought-provoking on the question of intellectual property.
-- (Score:i, Imaginary)
Lindash isn't too bad of an OS name. But why not just spell it lindash? It would be much easier
Can the use of dashes stand in court? Imagine people start using "-indows" (Dashindows) or "l-nux".
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
How'm I supposed to search for "lin---s" in google, for example? Please don't break out the meta-escape, its already past time for a headache remedy on this Lindows name issue ...
;)
A better name would've been "Lintel", but okay, I guess the Dutch Govt' wouldn't have seen the humor in that name-switch, eh?
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
What a stupid name. Noone but a bunch of geeks (who wont pay for lindows anyways) gets the joke.
I'd have come up with something original, and marketted it as a great commercial OS - highlighting its actual features, rather than running it as the "MS is teh ghey!!1!! lOOLOL GAYER THEN AIDS!!1!" system.
Move over, HURD, here comes Lin---s.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
If my first impression hadnt been guided by /. I would've read it out loud as:
Linn-ess
Sounds like Linus, eh.
this gave the wine an underground cachet. So the next year he just had the lables printed with the black dash. This was great till Taylor wines sued him again, and arguning before the same judge, won the case that the black mark had become identified with "taylor".
So the next year he left off the black mark and instead just put oil paintings of his deceased relatives on the bottles with the captions, joe TAYLOR. mary TAYLOR, etc....
Taylor wines sued him again. So he once again he erased the name and left the pictures that every one now recognized as the taylor family portraits. .
Taylor sued again and won. He was ordered to turn over the lables so he loaded them in the manure spreader and spread them around taylor wines office building.
Finally he altered all the portraits to cyclopses and dared them to say he was related. Around then he also adopted the name "bully hill winery". ANd there it ended.
I'd say lindash should just use a strategically placed Star or fig leaf to cover the last part of its name.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
C#.
:-)
Seriously, how the hell are you going to market that?
This reminds me of the case study done on white wines. Turns out that approx 75% of white wine drinkers prefer Gewertztraminer to Chardonnay grapes. Yet Chardonnay is still the top white grape in the world. Why? Because people can't pronounce Gewurtztraminer (Guh-vurtz-trah-mihn-er), and don't want to sound stupid.
Good luck with that dash thing, folks. Let me know how it works out for you.
What does it mean to wake out of a dream
and be wearing someone else's shorts?
BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
I emailed Micheal Robertson several months ago and asked why he is using the -indows in his company name. I flat out told him that even though it is definitely a Linux distro, using the -indows associates his product with insecure, unreliable, expensive, proprietary software. And so I asked "What's the point of using the L- if the rest is -indows?". Obviously his whole point of Lindows is create an OS clearly distinguishable from Microsoft software (and the negative connotation). It would make much more sense to come up with a nice prefix for -nix. Of course he said something about how windows is a generic term and he should be able to use however he wants. I can't find the exact email anymore. He's so hung up on if he "could" that he doesn't consider if he "should".
Seeing that Walmart pushed Lindows into the "mainstream" they should just buy it and relabel it either Walmart/OS or W/OS.
If not what about LinBash?
Lindows was a lame name to begin with anyway.
The judge has instructed the jury to evaluate the Trademark of Windows as it was before it was "Given" to MS. They will loose and we can call our favorite OS, Windows for Linux, Windows for BSD etc.
Help fight continental drift.
LINL Is Not Lindows
Linux Software Distribution?
It's not "Windows" with an "L," you dolt! It's a combination of two similar words:
LINux
+winDOWS
--------
LINDOWS
There's no question it's partially a play of "Windows", but it's as much of a play off of "Linux". And no one is going to mistake the Lindows brand as representing Windows (nor do they want people to). They want people to see it as a LINux that's winDOWS like (user friendly, etc.).
Personally, I think Lindows is annoying, and I would never pay for it. But this isn't a ripoff of Windows's name, it's mix of two words (and the Windows name hardly deserves trademark status).
The Lindows name is similar enough to Windows, however, that the simple fact that it was partially derived from that word means a court could find for Microsoft.
-Dan
- "Windows" is a generic term that cannot be trademarked.
- Microsoft only has a trademark on "Microsoft Windows."
Thus, I must conclude that it's perfectly acceptable for anyone to use the term "Windows." By extension, if "Windows" itself is OK, then something that is similar is also OK (i.e. "Lindows" or "Lindows Windows").What wouldn't be OK is something like, "Microsoft Lindows" or "Microsoft Windowsish OS" or "Lindows Microsoft Windows".
Side note: It occurs to me that "Linux" has been trademarked by Linus. I think he has more (not much more) of a case against the Lindows company than Microsoft does.
Lindows isn't stupid and there is nothing to get away with in the US. All Lindows has to prove is that, at the time Microsoft decided to name its OS Windows, that the term windows was a generic term for all GUIs. The jury will not have to consider whether or not consumers will currently be confused, because that's not the issue.
Lindows will certainly win their case against Microsoft.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
obviously the folks at Lindows are just a little bit immature. First, the picked a name they had to have known would get them in trouble with Microsoft for obviously trying to looks like "Windows". It'd be like opening up a fast food restaurant called McDowell's with golden arcs (not arches).
Now, picking a name like Lin---s is just stupid and childish. Grow up and pick a real name.
Lindows is supposed to help windows users migrate to Linux, right? So i'm supposed to tell my mom, or whoever i'm encouraging to switch, that they need to download "Lin---"? I don't care if it has the convenient "pronounciation" lindash. They won't be able to google it, or be sure that they've found the right product even if they do find the right page. I can just see a person thinking, after being recommended Lindows from a *nix fan, "Now, was that Lin--, Lin----, Lin___"??? Perhaps this name is a form of protest, but as far as a marketable name, its just horrible.