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Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden
Lindows.com has sent out a press release
entitled "Microsoft blocks distribution of desktop Linux in Sweden." What
has really happened, of course, is that Microsoft has succeeded in a
trademark challenge against the "Lindows" name in that country. Lindows is
portraying Microsoft's actions as directed against Linux in general
("Microsoft is using lawsuits as a battering ram to smash Linux, to
prevent it from reaching retail stores"), but the real scope of the
case is a bit narrower than that.
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Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 8:51 UTC (Thu) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] No kidding. More Robertson baloney.I have a love-hate view of that man....but mostly distrust. I trust Linus, I don't trust Robertson. The ruling may not thwart Linux in general, but that guy's behavior doesn't endear people to Linux as far as I can tell. Besides, why would he have the gall to publicly slander the rest of the distributions? Microsoft has made it clear, on a number of occasions, that they're not trying to block distribution of Linux. Compete against it, yes; slander it, yes; make people question whether it has patent and copyright issues, yes; but not block distribution. The rest of the people are careful. They try to avoid doing anything wrong, and there was even a good deal of trepidation when there was a chance that SCO might have some copyright issues with SGI code. The only time I've seen a trick like this pulled is by people who want $$$.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 9:16 UTC (Thu) by krash (subscriber, #2689) [Link] I have similar feelings about Robertson myself. There are things that I don't like that he has done. However, I do like some of what he and Lindows are doing for the Linux community. Not that they are doing it just for the Linux community. They are doing it for themselves and their bottom line also. That is not necessarily a bad thing though. That is the reason that most of us are in business or work for a living.And make no mistake about it, Microsoft would love nothing more than to see Linux go away. They would never say this out loud because it might FORCE the government to look at them again. As long as they can appear to be competing rather than extinguishing the republicans (I say this as somewhat of a republican myself) are likely to leave them alone.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 13:00 UTC (Thu) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] Robertson did good things for the free-music and independent-musician community, too. I will never fault him for that.But then again, my new kitten loves to rub up against me, lets me pick her up and cuddle, purring happily, and then bites my hand really hard so I drop her. I just don't want Robertson's antics to cause us any damage, like they wound up doing to the free-music world.
Robertson, M$ Posted Dec 11, 2003 9:18 UTC (Thu) by ccyoung (subscriber, #16340) [Link] > I have a love-hate view of that man....but mostly distrustperhaps dislike. his motive seems more of a passionate dislike of M$ rather than a passionate love of Linux. but that's okay. no one in the Linux community has the financial resources and psychological makeup to carry the battle to M$ as he is doing. even if he's not on my short-list for dinner, I respect many of his efforts. > Microsoft has made it clear, on a number of occasions, that they're not if you believe this, then I have some land I'd like for you to look at some land in... with M$ [abundant lack of] moral scruples and the admitted fact that "Linux is enemy number one", it doesn't take Euclidian logic to draw a conclusion that matches the evidence. they are not yet in full gear - they are not benign.
Robertson, M$ Posted Dec 11, 2003 10:15 UTC (Thu) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227) [Link] "his motive seems more of a passionate dislike of M$ rather than a passionate love of Linux. but that's okay."of course it's okay, that's how most of the Linux users think, too. ;-) *ducks*
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 9:42 UTC (Thu) by neoprene (guest, #8520) [Link] Windows is a dictionary word.Lindows(R) is _not_ a dictionary word and should be easily identified as such and an easy thing to trademark. Microsoft(R) should only be allowed to use "Windows(R)" in combination with "Microsoft(R)".
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 10:02 UTC (Thu) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] For Swedish people that can't read english, windows is not a dictionnaryword, it is only the name of a software sold by a compagny called microsoft. That ruling make plenty senses. I find the name Lindows absolutly ugly and an offense to the free software community to name a Debian-based distro after a proprietary product. What made free software community successful is writing good softwares, not whining about the microsoft monopoly.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 11:13 UTC (Thu) by neoprene (guest, #8520) [Link] Non English speaking Swedes? All four of them?
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:23 UTC (Thu) by Ross (subscriber, #4065) [Link] It's a technical term which describes a GUI element used in MSWindows and other operating systems. Is calling X11 "The X Window System" also not allowed? How about referring to things on the screen as windows? What about wxWindows? It's really a mess if they don't recognize the term to be generic as it is. Having said that I don't particularly care for Lindows or their
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 12, 2003 2:22 UTC (Fri) by filipjoelsson (subscriber, #2622) [Link] > It's a technical term which describes a GUI element used in MS> Windows and other operating systems. In english, yes. In swedish, we say "fönster" (which happens to be the translations of "window"). > Is calling X11 "The X Window System" also not allowed? Good question. I doubt that they (tm)ed it in Sweden before MS (tm)ed MS Windows. > How about referring to things on the screen as windows? As I said before, we don't - unless speaking to a foreigner who don't know swedish. > What about wxWindows? Have they applied for a trademark here? > It's really a mess if they don't recognize the term to be generic as it The mess is the concept of trademarking a generic word, I agree. But what constitutes a generic word? Could I trademark a swedish, french or latin generic word in the US? Sure. Should I have to prove that my (tm)-to-be is not a generic word in _any_ language when I apply? That's silly. So, should we do away with the concept of (tm) alltogether? That's no good either. (How would I know that I really get the quality product I'm looking for in that case?) Do you have a solution?
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 12, 2003 11:17 UTC (Fri) by Ross (subscriber, #4065) [Link] Err... X predates MS Windows. I agree they probably didn't file atrademark but doesn't Sweden recognize trademarks without registration like the US? I'm not arguing to get rid of trademarks. I'm also not saying that a
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:40 UTC (Thu) by krash (subscriber, #2689) [Link] Just to be clear, Microsoft did not invent Windows on the desktop. As usual they were behind several people in that respect. So what gives them the right to a trademark on Windows any more than Lindows has the right to a trademark their company name. Give me a break. Microsoft has already demonstrated that they would/will have a monopoly if allowed to and what you are saying is that this is OK. What are you going to do when they sue to not allow you to use X?
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 12, 2003 6:38 UTC (Fri) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link] Except that Sweden is a Scandinavian country, and as I understand it, "window" is derived from the scandinavian ...From Latin we have "fenestra", giving us the French "fenetre" and German "Fenster". So English most certainly did not get it from those two - from where it got maybe 95% of its words ... My understanding is it came from the Norse "wind eye", so I would have thought Scandinavian for "window" was something pretty close to "window". Cheers,
Swedish word for "window" Posted Dec 24, 2003 15:16 UTC (Wed) by goeran (subscriber, #151) [Link] The Norwegian word is "vindu" with the etymology you describe. In Sweden, though, we use "fönster", obviously coming from the Latin word. So while the two Scandinavian languages Swedish and Norwegian are very similar, "window" is an example of a word which is quite different.I don't know what Danes use.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 9:47 UTC (Thu) by copsewood (subscriber, #199) [Link] Is there a commercial X-Windows trademark user in Sweden which could challenge M$ right to the MS-Windows trademark based on prior use and this precedent ? Now that's a pie in Bill Gates' face I really would enjoy seeing.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 11:15 UTC (Thu) by neoprene (guest, #8520) [Link] X-Windows ? not X-window ?
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:18 UTC (Thu) by fLameDogg (guest, #11305) [Link] The thing is, there *is* no "X-Windows". There is X, the X Windowing System, XFree, X-11, what-have-you, but X-Windows is a misnomer.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 10:51 UTC (Thu) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link] For english speakers, Lindows and Windows are quite different. Non-english speakers could have a much harder time distinguishing the two. So, I can see how a case could be made that the two could be confused. This "press release", however, is exaggerating it quite a bit.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:28 UTC (Thu) by johnny (guest, #10110) [Link] It would surprise me if this was the reason why the name was blocked. I'ma Swede and I'm pretty sure most, if not all, Swedes can tell "Lindows" from "Windows". We watch insane amounts of non-dubbed American television in .se. Even the... less gifted learn a lot of English from Oprah or Ricky Lake. ;)
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 11, 2003 11:21 UTC (Thu) by neoprene (guest, #8520) [Link] the Lindows(R) name is a feeble minded marketing invention, aka "lame".It uses the similarity with a monopoly brand for something utterly different. Yeech.
a rose is a rose Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:10 UTC (Thu) by ccyoung (subscriber, #16340) [Link] my favorite MSism is "SQL Server" - implying that Oracle, MySQL, and PostgresQL are *not* SQL servers. Akin to Ford naming a car "Convertable" - despite the fact many convertables out there. However, "Geevertable" would be completely acceptable.
a rose is a rose Posted Dec 11, 2003 12:24 UTC (Thu) by Ross (subscriber, #4065) [Link] Maybe they should have called MS Windows "Operating System" to be evenmore generic and force more people to not use standard existing terminology.
a rose is a rose Posted Dec 11, 2003 13:19 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link] Not to be pedantic (ok, yes, just to be pedantic), the quote is "Rose is a rose is a rose." Yes, that makes less sense.The hacker in me wants to figure out whether it means that the statement "Rose is a rose" is (also) a rose, or Rose herself is indeed interchangeable with the remark "a rose is a rose", or if the second "is a rose" is just for emphasis, or covers up embarassment at the banality of the first half. Vexing, true, but doctorate fodder in more refined milieus than this.
a rose is a rose Posted Dec 11, 2003 16:07 UTC (Thu) by aotheoverlord (guest, #3993) [Link] Ironically this one isn't an MSism, as the SQL-Server term is owned by Sybase, Inc., and licensed to MS as part of a (1994?) agreement.
Microsoft: "this is not about Microsoft trying to prevent competition" Posted Dec 11, 2003 19:11 UTC (Thu) by mattmcal (guest, #17764) [Link] The Industry Standard reports that a MS spokesman said Microsoft is not interested in stifling competition, "Microsoft's steps in this case are only about the Lindows name. We are merely asking that Lindows.com change its name,"
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 12, 2003 1:28 UTC (Fri) by jhellan (subscriber, #17103) [Link] Lindows did not oppose the motion, so no wonder the injunction was granted.
Don't let them intimidate you! Posted Dec 12, 2003 22:22 UTC (Fri) by stock (subscriber, #5849) [Link] As seen on irc :stock Lindows needs to drop its name... what a total bollocks stock as Lindows is just the Chinese pronounciation of Windows:))) stock Mister Robertson only has to agree with m$ legal dep. he won't sell Lindows boxes in China :) barcik m$ wants the windows be in every device, such tv's, washer, coffee makers, yuck! stock barcik its maybe the biggest Gig ever setup to boost the expanding of Helpdesks for Microsoft related products. stock barcik on monday you call helpdesk : my microwave doesn't do the pizza well, it just doesn't heat up well. Ehh reboot your microwave sir, goodday!, klick. next time for a microwave pizza, you callem up again, and tell you same crap. barcik stock so what be the world in about ten years like? every step you take you'll see windows logos everywhere... stock barcik its unacceptable from a society point of view. barcik or the helpdesk will tell: have you bought the pizza-build10192 update? no??? you should to buy it, the pizza-build10191 has the memory leak bug which causes the heaters work unstable... stock barcik old fashioned microwaves become collectors items, and go at insane prices at Christies barcik stock :-) and Gates' grandkids will take a bath in lots of $'s... barcik so what can stop m$ from this imaginary future? stock barcik probably.. well they already have that cash... but why should our local town country suffer more and more under their regime? barcik stock you're right stock barcik don't fall for idiotic legal claims... become independant yourself.
Use of "Lindows" name blocked in Sweden Posted Dec 15, 2003 1:44 UTC (Mon) by ahenager (guest, #17819) [Link] Funny, this is the same issue as when the American company Budweiser won a lawsuit against a Czech importer whose product label bore the word Budweiser. The word itself means "from Budweiss," a Czech city. There's no way Budweiser could have been copyrighted in Czech, but here in the US they let them get away with it, and the infinitely superior product had to make concessions to the monopolistic imitation. It's simply that bureaucracies are slow to catch up with the international community.Well, it's about 3am and I'm just jumping at the chance to draw corellation between Linux and beer. :)
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