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Microsoft Forces wxWindows To Rename
Peter Millerchip writes "Apparently Microsoft have forced wxWindows, the popular cross-platform C++ GUI library, to change its name to wxWidgets over the UK trademark of the seemingly generic word 'Windows.' Hot on the heels of the MikeRoweSoft.com incident, you have to wonder if their overactive legal team will be targetting double glazing manufacturers next?"
Why associate with with Windows at all?
With a little more imagination I bet they could come up with an even better name than wxWidgets.
I have been pwned because my
I think I might have to open some wind^H^H^H^Hframed glass panes attached to hinges!
Seriously... this trademarking of generic words is just silly. Is someone going to trademark the word "The" next, so no company name can contain it?
New > Navigator Window
surely infringes
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I can actually understand the case against Lindows to some degree, because Lindows is a name that might confuse consumers. wxWindows, however, is a tool for developers. Developers developing applications for windowing environments, people who very well know the difference between Windows(tm) and a windowing user interface. Joe Avg will never encounter the name.
I guess X is next.
You know, long before Microsoft ever created Windows, I remember both Macintosh and the other GUI systems being described as "WIMP", or "Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointer" systems. Surely this use of Windows represents a clear prior usage of Microsoft's supposed trademark to describe what were very similar products? Can you still trademark terms that have been used before? IANAL, but it would seem like a pretty silly idea.
...you have to wonder if their overactive legal team will be targetting double glazing manufacturers next?
Or Office for that matter! This whole discussion makes no sense whatsoever. Windows as a word does not infringe, unless it is accompanied by the word Microsoft.
It's like McDonalds sueing every fastfood-place in the world for using the words Milkshake or Hamburger.
wxWidgets sound stupid, like something for VB toy projects.
Legally speaking, there should be no reason wxWindows should need to change their name, because they do not compete with 'the' Windows; indeed, wxWindows uses Windows APIs -and others as well- to create display elements called 'windows' (by which name they were known when MS was still DOS.)
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
I want to register that name, but I want to make sure it doesn't any software company. Is it familiar to you? ...
If yes I may chose others like MicroSCOft,
What about X Windows? Thats clearly a common phrase (seeing as everyone says "X Windows" and the X people say its not "X Windows". What about the fact that wxWindows isn't even remotely a competing product with MS Windows. And the fact that people called multitasking GUIs windowing systems before microsoft came up with Windows.... I'm gonna go out on a linb and say thats why they called it Windows.
:)
I think they are just upset they don't have a cool name like "Linux" "BSD" or "OS X"
Last I checked, x-windows was older than windows. So, xerox should sue microsoft and force them to change the name from windows to something else. Whenever I talk about x-windows, most new linux users think it has something to do with Microsoft.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
when Microsoft is going to sue you for its name.
Goal: Make your product name a part of everyday language
Analogy: Vacuum cleaner; Hoover
Reaction: Legally acknowledge (or prove as hopefully it has been done) that the word is in common use and so is not used as a valid company name or product.
i.e. The word Windows means Windows like it always did. We have double the power here because the word wasn't invented
A blog I run for the wealth
www.mikerowesoft.com now hosts something entitled "Mike Rowe Fourms". It has been a long time since I've seen the banner of a site misspell the site's name.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
X-Windows?
Microsoft has a habit of using generic terms as names for its products then trademarking them. I believe it purposely done for anti-competitive reasons. Had they not been declared a monopoly, it probably wouldn't be a problem. However, they were... why aren't people filing complaints about them co-opting common words?
Mocrosoft's Naming System
What should we call our...
office suite: Office
the word processor in it: Word
disk operating system: DOS
windowing operatind system: Windows
flight simulator game: Flight Simulator
media player: Media Player
It makes you wonder if Bill Gates sues his neighbors for calling home their dog, "Come 'ere dog", since I'm sure that's what his dog is named.
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
Although it may be an interesting discussion on what's fair and what's not,
it's all a moot point. If you have enough money, you can shape the legal
system in any way you see fit. This isn't insightful, or interesting, and
certainly not funny. It's just the sad truth.
Besides, anyone with enough power and money to be involved with
the decision making in Microsoft's predatory affairs almost certainly
has shares of MSFT in their portfolio.
Microsoft isn't a bunch of sharks, they are the ocean we all swim in.
Sucks, but that's how it is.
Hmmm, tough choice: get into a legal battle to keep the name "wxWindows" and spend a lot of money, or change to "wxWidgets" and get "modest financial compensation" from Microsoft?
In order to head off any legal actions Home Deppt will now be selling Silicon Based Transparent Rectangles (TM).
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, The hands acqui
Manufacturers of windows for building just might be at risk soon. There are a number of companies now selling transparent LCD displays. There are several that can be used as real windows in walls. Google for "transparent LCD display" for information. (You'll have to wade through a lot of technical details to find pretty pictures. ;-)
...
So arguing that windows in walls and Windows in a computer display are different subject areas might not work much longer. It's possible right now to have a window in your house that is a computer display. How practical this is, I'm not sure, but you could do it.
So shall we start a pool on the date of Microsoft's first C&D letter and/or lawsuit when someone does this?
Of course, it might have happened already, and we just haven't heard about it. And imagine the rage of MS's lawyers if such a window were controlled by a computer running Lindows
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I'd like to see the correspondence with Microsoft in this case. The wxWindows, er, wxWidgets team seemed to think it was a better idea to cooperate - forcing would be to actually sue them and deliver a, what was it, 75 page explanation?
The team would've won the trademark suit IMHO, but IANAL and the SCO case should've been about finance fraud a long time ago - so take my opinion with a grain of salt. In any case as a cross platform UI toolkit the name fits better.
As it is perhaps this took place as a polite exchange. Especially considering that the wxWidgets team had to know the groundswell of support they would have if Microsoft DID force the issue. There's nothing wrong with a company asking someone to do something; there's only something wrong with that when they sue someone to force them to do something that's inane.
Flamebait Disclaimer: I use Microsoft products as much in a day as I use Linux. I use what's best for the job at the time I need it done. I'm not screaming that people are being hypocrites; I'm saying that the situation might very well be completely different than what this article seems to assume.
The only time Microsoft will truly piss me off is when they decide to go after Mono. That will have me up in arms whether it's effective or not.
My reality check bounced.
they did this willingly after polite discussion - no lawsuits involved. Microsoft is also going to provide them some funding for further development and to point to their domain for a year or so.
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
donuts?
you have to wonder if their overactive legal team will be targetting double glazing manufacturers next
Find me a Microsoft lawyer, it's F/SWE time again! )-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
It's a pretty clear indication that Microsoft don't give a dump about the EU's opinion of their actions (this is Britain, and last I looked they were EU).
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Afte a polite request from the biggest and meanest Software company in the world, with enough cash to burn a million a day for years, with enough lawyers to equal the GDP of small countries, etc....
No wonder they "gave thought to the situation" and decided to change their name.
MS new slogan: do you want to be sued today? And the other one "Awwwwhhh, look, they are suing us today. How cute!".
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
.... is only measurable when both parts have the same bargaining power.
If the strongest part asks for something and has a track record of getting what they want, one way or another (Stac Electronics) then I think willingness is not a word I would use so freely.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I was outraged when I read the story, apparently not everyone thinks the way I do, something has to be done. This is such a stupid thing, after Lindows renaming its product to Lin----, maybe /. users are getting used to these things but this still doesn't make them tolerable. wxWindows has nothing related to MS Windows, apart from possibility of running with it and still Microsoft's lawyers could threathen a group of developers with lawsuits. Lindows was at least a competitor in their OS market. This is just not tolerable.
As one poster stated, MS has a history of using generic names, next big target can be OpenOffice. Then what? Will you stay silent until they knock on your door? Remember what Nazi's did:
First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945 A pastor in the German Confessing Church Who spent from 1937 to 1945 in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps.
I challenge MS lawyers to sue for XWindows to change its name. If wxWindows is infringing, surely XWindows which is one letter even closer to Windows is? I challenge MS to sue even Apple, linux, et al. for using the term windows to describe a part of GUI. Bring it on, stupid evil bastards!
This poster has clearly RTFM.
True story.
It is stupid and assinine to change the name of the product. All the name recognition goes out with the name change. However, in the long term it will be useful for the general public to learn that there are more advanced systems than MS-Windows.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
I have "no microsoft" in my domain name. I'm not gonna say which (as it will cause the attached server to fall over) - it's got a simple html-only notice up, so it's not even worth seeing. :)
Anyway, I believe that I'm covered under the "sucks" domain rulings. e.g. it's an expression of an opinion, not libel, and hence fine.
Granted, IANAL and I never cease to be amazed. :-/
But while Britain may not be that enthusiastic about being Europe, The City will drag them kicking and screaming into the EU.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing