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RIP Ethereal, Long Live Wireshark

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the shark-made-of-wires dept.

teknogeek0 writes "From Newsforge (also owned by OSTG), it appears that popular open source network traffic analyzer Ethereal has changed it's name to Wireshark. The surprising move was due to Gerald Combs, the founder of the project, changing jobs and having to leave the Ethereal trademark behind. From the article: 'I recently accepted a job with CACE Technologies, best known for WinPcap .... The move also means a major change for the project. We're continuing development under the name Wireshark, at http://www.wireshark.org/. The web site, mailing lists, bug tracker, SVN repository, buildbot, and other resources are already in place.'"

3 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. Summary link is wrong by Tridus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ethereal is at www.ethereal.com, not at www.ethereal.org.

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    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
  2. Holding the ethereal trademark makes no sense by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I cannot understand why the company would want to hold onto the Ethereal trademark if the development of the project is moving to a new name. A trademark is, by definition, a MARK that you are TRADING under, so unless they are planning on continuing the project (a fork), there is no value to the mark.

    So the only thing that makes sense to me is that they plan on forking the project and continuing the development - which really would not make sense, as the odds are such a move would be viewed with great disdain by the community, and in all likelihood the project will be outstripped by the new Wireshark project.

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    www.eFax.com are spammers
  3. Re:trademark? by wishus · · Score: 4, Informative

    does his old job own the trademark or something?

    Yes, according to the article.

    Several years ago, my former employer (NIS) registered trademarks for the Ethereal name and logo. At the time this provided valuable legal protection for the project. Unfortunately, when I left we weren't able to come to an agreement on the trademarks and they stayed behind.

    It's a good article. You should read it. ;>