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Lindows Changes Name to 'Linspire'
Robert Nicholson writes "As previously covered, Lindows has decided to change its name thanks to Microsoft legal threats. Well it has just announced the new name - Linspire - clever, huh? There's a site at Linspire.com. The full story and the history behind it all are covered on Techworld."
That left the way open for Microsoft to chase the company all over the world's courts and effectively knock it out of business with huge legal costs.
This sheds some light on the real reason that they changed their name. I doubt there's a single company that could handle being dragged through the world's courts by Microsoft, let alone a small one like them.
This led to the daft situation where Lindows renamed itself Lin---s, complete with new website. Microsoft, unbowed, then incredibly claimed that Lin---s was its trademark as well.
This one just makes me say wow... Microsoft actually thingks they can claim the rights to "Lin---s"? Talk about power hungry.
Also, if they have changed their name and everything, then why does www.linspire.com have "LindowsOS" plastered all over the place? I guess it will take them a while to implement the actual name change.
Wireless News www.DailyWireless
In other news, the lawyers for Winspire Success Seminars get their pens ready...
The fine folks at Mozilla have decided to join forces with the Linspire team.
Please await *drumroll* LinFire 0.9 any day now..
"It came to me in a moment of Linspiration"
please change me. - sig
What a Linsipid name. In my opnion it sounds like the name of a cheesy fly by night telemarketing company.. or a group that sell motivational self-help tapes to desperate and simple-minded middle management types.
Not that I could do any better, I'm sure... but Linspire really sounds boring.
I mean, do I install it on my computer, park it in my driveway, or drink it from a fancy bottle?
:rolleyes:
Linspire. Whoever thought that up needs to get more linspired. Jeeeebus O'Reilly McChrist in a dead DeLorean.
This post made with the Dvorak layout.
"Friends don't let friends use QWERTY"
It sounds like a Korean car. I'm going to spend the next hour cringing. Really surprised they didn't go with LinDOS (a previous candidate) or something with a modicum of coolness. I guess the company isn't shelling out big bucks for its marketing department.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
L'inspire? What is that, French? Aren't they the enemies or something now?
They might as well have saved us a step and just named it "Freedom Linux" before we do it for them.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
they'd call their software the Linspire Linsuit.
The logo and domain name seem to be the only changes at Linspire.com, everything else still says Lindows. Can you say plausible deniability?
L'inspire est le trademarke pour le Parlement du Francias! C'est et desitenement immedinantre! Alors!
"Lindows" was just a PR move and the trademark equivalent of cybersquatting. Let's not forget that the founder of the company got his start by registering mp3.com as well as slight variations of the URLs of other major sites and convincing a VC to fund him as a company. Yet again, though, his strategy worked pretty well.
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
It's a bit weak.
Actually, it really sucks. Sorry, Michael Robertson, but you could have done better.
"LindOS" cuts it better.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
But Lindash was better. I think we need a Slashdot poll.
Shoddily made computers sold with a crippled version of an OS? Acer did it in the 90's they called it "Aspire". LAWSUIT AGAIN!
Linspire is non-consentual and "Microsoft-safe", and I can understand they want to avoid going through that again with the Redmond monster. But I'd have much preferred if they have renamed themselves "Lindoze" or "liNT" or "eXPect-more" or something like that, to piss them off...
Oh well, bland name but still a cool company. I'm just glad they escaped their (first) legal stint with Microsoft more or less unscathed..
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Here is the blurb on their own site:
g .h tml
http://info.lindows.com/linspire/Linspirelandin
clicky clicky
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Acer is going to be pissed!
S
But seriously how many average joe's just walk to best buy and buy a copy of windows OS and install it on their PC. Let's face it, most people just use the OS their PC came installed with.
Given this fact, I fail to see how the name Lindows, was any beneficial. I mean, most people don't even know what an OS stands for, so what are the chances they go to buy Windows OS and install it on their own, and Now take a percentage of those extremely small nos. who will be fooled by the Lindows boxes sitting next to Windows boxes.
And the ones who are comfortable installing their own OS, any ways are not likely to be misled. So the name choice was unfortunate to begin with. All it did was gave them a lot of publicity (which is not a bad thing) but I really wonder how many customers really bought it think it to be windows.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Only 45 hits on Google if you search for "linspire" at the time of writing. I wonder how many hits there will be tomorrow at the same time.
Anyway, they seemed to have known this for quite some time. From a whois on linspire.com and linspire.org:
Record created on 15-Jan-2004.
... to try the new LDE with Lmail, Lword, Lonqueror and Lxmms. Not to forget Lozilla-Lirelox.
Lat least lhey lon't lave lo lange lilo's lame!
Solly, lounge got louse.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
ok, i'll stop.
I bootleg Fizzy Lifting Drinks.
So, as expected, Microsoft played its part in this little Kabuki drama, and Lindows aka Linspire got its free publicity. And bully for them, I guess. But to suggest that they picked the name for any other reason is sheer folly.
sulli
RTFJ.
"Windows" is not a common noun in countries that do not have English as an official language. Among European countries, only the UK and Ireland seem to speak English in the trademark office.
It took tremendous Linsight to come up with the name "Linspire". I find the whole story quite Linteresting. Thanks for the Linformative links.
---------------------------------------------
SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let MS chew on this it's a linspiracy.
My keyboads not woking popely.
Obviously it's a subliminal message... they believe our right brain will subconscously recognize LINSPIRE as an anagram of IN PERILS.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I think a good name change would have been Winux...
yeah
With all the controversy over changing the name to Lin---s or some such, why didn't they look at following their own comment about the "W" being all the problem and change it to something like LindOS and say that now it was a completely different name and wouldn't impinge on Microsoft's trademark?
... well... I guess there might not be any avoiding a lawsuit from a company wanting to take out the competition.
Wouldn't that have given them a name that was remarkably similar to their previous name to have recognition yet distinct enough to avoid
I'm not a nerd. I'm a geek. Nerds make more money.
The script has nothing to do with the trademark.
Oh really? There are word marks and there are drawings. "Coca-Cola" is a word mark. "Coca-Cola" written in a distinctive script is a drawing, and the distinctive script is part of the mark. "Crack-a-Cola" not written in the script would possibly infringe Coke's rights in the word mark but not at all on the drawing. And given that "cola" has become generic (I see it on Pepsi, RC, and store-bought soft drinks with similar flavors), are you so sure that Coke would have a case on the "Crack-a" part?
I vote for calling it "All Your Windows Are Belong to Us"
to also change their name to Whispering-Window because Redmond told them to. Whispering-Windows is not even a computer product, it's a speaker system for retail store windows.
Next thing you know, when you build a house your going to have to purchase large panes of glass to be mounted in the side of a wall. When will this insane madness stop and common sense start to prevail? but then again I guess, common sense is not all that common.
If firefighters fight fire and crime fighters fight crime, what do Freedom fighters fight?
The X Window System may not have been in common use yet, but the term "window" was already in very common use for creating UIs. You can find code all over that shows this. Even Emacs called the concept a "Window" long before that time.
Microsoft has no right to claim "Windows" (or Office, which was in common use for Office Automation, etc.) and even less right to complain about Lindows or the X Window System. It should be "Microsoft Windows", and nothing shorter should be protectable, just like "X Window System" is protectable, but "Window System" should not be.
I doubt there's a single company that could handle being dragged through the world's courts by Microsoft, let alone a small one like them.
Caldera International purchased the rights to DR-DOS, then sued Microsoft for the damage that Microsoft had done to DR-DOS.
Caldera settled for an estimated $150 million from Microsoft.
Microsoft settles Caldera Antitrust Case
To be sure, Caldera later turned to the dark side in a big way. They are now suing another software giant.
Lintimidated
Lipshits.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
I think the new name is linteresting. It's linfective and very lintelligent. This little lincident with the itigation shows that great minds are not lidle for ong. With Microsoft linsisting they have lintellectual property rights on '---' any other countermeasure will ikely prove to be lineffective.
Just as long as Linus doesn't come along and claim he owns the letter 'L' - which is hardly going to happen. He and Bill Gates weren't born on the same day, or come from the same mold.
But let's not have any lillusions: Microsoft are a lillegal monopoly. They bode lill for the rest of the Linternet.
Had a look at their website and clicked on "SCO information" to see what their position on the whole SCO thing was. Suprisingly it looks like they've been "in talks" with SCO and even drawn up a contract. Are they paying SCO licenses? Come on Robertson, I know you're trying to do what's best for your business and all that, but SCO? Not cool.
It would annoy Intel too, therby increasing publicity.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it