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Google Under Fire For Calling Their Language "Go"

Posted by Soulskill on from the rename-it-to-proceed-with-caution dept.

Norsefire writes "Since releasing the 'Go' programming language on Tuesday, Google has been under fire for using the same name as another programming language that was first publicly documented in 2003. 'Go!' was created by Francis McCabe and Keith Clark. McCabe published a book about the language in 2007, and he is not happy. He told InformationWeek in an email: 'I do not have a trademark on my language. It was intended as a somewhat non-commercial language in the tradition of logic programming languages. It is in the tradition of languages like Prolog. In particular, my motivation was bringing some of the discipline of software engineering to logic programming.'"

29 of 512 comments (clear)

  1. Go! by sopssa · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's actually pretty funny Google itself didn't see this coming. Results in Google for go programming language are about the existing Go! language and the main developers book about it.

    In this case Google should really change the name since its been used in an existing programming language for years. But maybe they are:

    "We recently became aware of the Go! issue and are now looking into the matter further," a company spokesperson said in an e-mail.

    1. Re:Go! by msh104 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Even more funny is the fact that they hosting their language on code.google.com
      Perhaps we shouldn't worry that much about them harvesting our data after all?

    2. Re:Go! by iamhassi · · Score: 5, Funny

      from the article:

      There once was a language named "Go"
      By Google it's made to help the Pro
      But there's a claim the name
      it sounds quite the same
      as another fellow's lingo

      This other lingo named "Go!"
      "It was earlier" it's inventor says so.
      "Why didn't you look
      on a webpage or in my book,
      it's even google search result two!"

      "So Google, rename your thing!
      Or in front of a judge you i bring!
      Lots of users agree
      it was disgraceful by thee
      just be sorry and give me a ring!"

      So the question arise
      allthough google might despise
      "what new name shall we be giving
      to the lingo that's not yet living
      and has not yet seen this world with it's own eyes?"

      One fella proposed the name "Goo"
      Which is similar to pythons clone "Boo"
      But also this name is taken
      and not yet forsaken
      and honestly sounds close to "Poo".

      Another said "Lango" is cool,
      He would take such thing as a tool.
      But a lingo named "Lango"
      Only rhymes "Jango" or "Tango"
      This is real, not Star Wars, you fool!

      Lots of other names were called
      some were boring, some others were bold
      The question still remain
      Will google act or refrain
      from renaming it's lingo as told?

      The remainder of my little piece
      Is the ironic issue of this
      Why did you, google miss
      to google "go" before release
      You would have known it's not your name, but his'!

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    3. Re:Go! by Adambomb · · Score: 3, Funny

      Plus every source file would be a .gog!

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    4. Re:Go! by wooferhound · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think they should rename it to "Goo"

      --
      We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
    5. Re:Go! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      They should call it "Go: Advanced Technology (Second Edition)".

    6. Re:Go! by khallow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In this case Google should really change the name since its been used in an existing programming language for years.

      Why? Go! is just another hobby language that's only been around for a few years. The only thing it has generated is a few academic papers. There probably have been thousands of those in the past 50 or so years. I see no reason for Google to change the name of its computing language just because there are already one or more programming languages with similar names. As the previous sentence implies, I wouldn't be surprised to find out there there are several programming languages with something very similar.

    7. Re:Go! by fbjon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Next up: Go2 considered harmful.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    8. Re:Go! by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 3, Funny

      Burma shave

      --
      Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
      altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
    9. Re:Go! by kju · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wouldn't Go! be pronounced Go(bang)?

      Maybe we should use "Gang!" as the name, then.

    10. Re:Go! by tknd · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just because it is currently a hobby language doesn't mean something popular might be made with it later. That would result in a naming collision for people (which go language?) and a complex legal battle if both products became successful.

      Here's what would happen if nobody says anything: Google's Go gets popular and now has trademark weight. Go! hobby language gets popular because basement developer makes new popular app. Google sees this as a threat to trademark and is forced to use legal action.

      Of course, the hobby language Go! could dwindle and produce nothing of value but we don't know that yet. He's actually doing everyone a favor by bringing up this topic right now while both languages don't have much weight to defend. It eliminates the possibility of expensive arguments in the future.

    11. Re:Go! by malakai · · Score: 4, Informative

      He published in "Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence" and it's cited in the ACM portal. Who cares what Wiki has or doesn't have.

      This wasn't some geocities page with talk about a language that was never developed.

      --
      -Malakai
      A Dragon Lives in my Garage
  2. I said it yesterday, but... by LaminatorX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two "Go"'s considered harmful.

  3. Re:Perfect example by vadim_t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's no IP.

    There is copyright, patents and trademarks. This sounds like a trademark thing, so no need to confuse the issue.

  4. Google should rename Go to Issue 9 by Procasinator · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This was reported by the author in Issue 9. There have been suggestions to rename the language to Issue 9 - I like it.

    1. Re:Google should rename Go to Issue 9 by Abcd1234 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Issue 9 is kind of a mouthful to pronounce, plus it might be weird in some other languages (like in french where issue means exit)

      Meh, in conversation just shorten it to I9 and you're good to... *cough*. Yeah.

    2. Re:Google should rename Go to Issue 9 by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think they should name it Issue Express 9 or IE9 for short. Preemptive naming.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  5. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some things are ethically questionable even when there is no legal problem involved. A concept often forgotten in the corporate world.

  6. Re:Goo by EyelessFade · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goo_(programming_language)

  7. Re:They should plan better by xophos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As someone stated before, this is not a legal issue. It's just about basic politeness.

  8. Re:People! Punctuation is IMPORTANT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Google's language is called Go! (with an exclamation mark.) The preexisting language whose existence has been suddenly and rudely revealed is called Go without the exclamation mark.

    Other way around. Google's language is "Go". McCabe's language is "Go!".

  9. Re:Hmmm... by Rary · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Perhaps Mr. McCabe should have trademarked the name???

    Simply using the name in a commercial capacity is enough to get an unregistered trademark. However, the problem is that he is not selling the Go! programming language. If it's not a commercial entity, then trademark doesn't apply.

    --

    "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

  10. Re:People! Punctuation is IMPORTANT! by Thornburg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dont get me started on the Japanese chess game Go.

    I don't know if your post was supposed to be either sarcastic or funny, but Go is neither Japanese nor chess.

    It's Chinese, and it's older than chess.

    The game commonly referred to as "Japanese chess" is Shogi.

  11. Wikipedia proposes deletion of Go! page by rkww · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It is proposed that this article be deleted because of the following concern: Non notable language. All the sources seem to be papers and a book by the author of the language. Per WP:N, sources should be secondary sources independent of the subject.

    This template was added 2009-11-12 14:22

  12. Re:Non-issue by nomadic · · Score: 4, Funny

    if Google are unaware that it exists then it shows quite how insular they have become - obviously they didn't even think of checking whether anyone else had used the name.

    Hey it's not their fault. If only they had access to some sort of computer system that allowed one to quickly examine the internet, a "search engine" if you will, then they might have been able to catch this in time.

  13. Re:Someone is getting fired... by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would hate to have you as a boss.
    Oh you had a bug in you code... YOUR FIRRREED!
    Oh you tried to come up with a creative name that was taken by some obscure language... YOUR FIRRREED!
    When brain storming for ideas in the meeting you idea that we all liked had a problem... YOUR FIRREED!

    I bet you work for the government or something. People make mistakes. Googling for GO will lead to a lot of results and people know that and Go is used for a lot of help support too. So they probably realized it is such a common word finding a language like it will be like a needle in a haystack.
    Sure google searches now will probably bring you better results however now that it is news it would effect the Google search criteria.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  14. UUIDs by ewg · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is why I name all my programming languages by UUID. In fact, look for my new book, Ed68c886-6390-4255-813f-48e61f6b0b06: The Definitive Guide to be published in the second quarter of next year!

    --
    org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
  15. Tingo? by houghi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This Is Not GO.
    It apparently also means "To take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by borrowing them." in Pasquense, Easter Island.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  16. Re:'GO' != 'GO!' by umberto_soprano · · Score: 4, Informative

    A+ != A# != A# C != C# (in fairness they are related) There are several languages refereed to as D F != F# L != L# M != M4

    If you can't tell the difference between to similarly named programming languages perhaps programming isn't for you!

    But C# = Db F = E# and moreover B# = C