NEWS Open-source reseller and thorn in the side of Microsoft, Lindows, has launched newly named software in an attempt to bypass the legal blocks barring it from selling in the Netherlands.
A recent trademark infringement case brought by Microsoft in the Netherlands resulted in Lindows being forced to temporarily cease selling its products to Dutch users, on the grounds the similarity in name between the Linux seller and the Redmond giant's operating systems violated branding law and might cause confusion for unsuspecting users.
To get round the naming issue, Lindows has launched Lin---s -- pronounced Lindash – it announced yesterday, which will see the desktop Linux product available over the internet at www.lin---s.com and via participating resellers.
Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows.com, didn't miss an opportunity for a dig at its proprietary rival. "Dutch citizens deserve the same choices that are currently available to the citizens of more than one hundred countries around the world. Lindash ensures that the Netherlands will have affordable, virus-free options instead of just expensive Microsoft software," he said in a statement.
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1. Richard Percival
By suing the little guys Microsoft has given superb publicity to Lindows - Lindash is an excellent idea, which should also keep them in business. The joke is that Windows is not a legal protectable trademark - it actually still has to be prefixed with MS - so the whole business of "protecting" the word itself on its own is part of a much bigger game, (adjusting the English language to suit Microsoft, perhaps - as night follows day). This brings to mind a namechange forced on David Digital Computer, many years ago. They called themselves DDC, and were sued by BBC (no, not the ones you think, but rather Brown Boveri Corporation!) Brown, Boveri won, closed DDC down, and promptly were acquired in their turn by ASEA, to become ABB. The moral of the story? When companies get too big they hire too many lawyers, and lose the plot.