wxWindows changes name

[Paul Boddie]

"Terry Reedy" <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote in message news:<mailman.57.1077648520.8594.python-list at python.org>...
> "Piet van Oostrum" <piet at cs.uu.nl> wrote in message
> news:wzy8qsfqe6.fsf at ordesa.cs.uu.nl...
> 
> > So what will happen to the X Window system, often referred to as
> > XWindows.

For the nth time, it isn't referred to as XWindows in any official or
meaningful sense.

> Isn't there a consortium or something, with much more resources ($$$) to
> fight than Julian and Robin have?

Yes, it's called Sun Microsystems who used the OpenWindows name ages
ago:

  http://step.polymtl.ca/~coyote/open-look/01-general/faq-doc-1.html

I guess Microsoft aren't up for yet more protracted legal action
involving Sun, so they go for the small guy instead.

[...]

> It is a complement to Julian and Robin that MS noticed them enough to
> threaten and negotiate with them.  Also that they did not just cave but
> negotiated a 6 month transition period and $ for transition costs.

Microsoft deserves no compliments whatsoever. This is just a case of a
company blatantly misusing a generic term which they've been told they
can't even enforce as a trademark in the United States, surfing
different legal systems in order to find places where they can carry
out acts reminiscent of extortion on legitimate activities and
businesses, and then bullying small outfits who can't afford to argue
for any substantial period of lawyer time.

For once, the United States is actually a beacon of sanity in all
this. There's Lindows being issued with injunctions all over the
planet for the use of a name which resembles Windows; there's the
bloke behind Mobilix being forced to change his site's name to
TuxMobil because the publishers of Asterix think they own every name
ending with "ix". The only positive thing about the former case is
that Michael Robertson seems to know enough about public relations to
make every aggressive move by Microsoft an embarrassment for them
whilst raising the profile of his own business.

So, how is it a compliment that a corporation waits several years
before jumping on an now-established project whose name doesn't really
infringe on any reasonable trademark? How does threatening behaviour
deserve any compliment whatsoever?

Paul