December 30, 2002

NY Times: Glass Panes and Software: Windows Name Is Challenged

My spin: Let's say Lindows does come out in full force...should you buy it? Should you use it for your business? I don't think so - not right now for sure.

There is no question that Microsoft Windows, the name of the dominant personal computer operating system, is one of the leading brands in the world. Today, Windows is the face of computing for nearly 400 million people worldwide ó the software that determines the look and basic operations of more than 90 percent of all PC's.

But success, money and monopoly, it seems, do not put even so familiar a name as Microsoft Windows beyond challenge. An upstart company, Lindows.com, is trying to persuade the Federal District Court in Seattle to invalidate Microsoft's trademark on Windows.

At issue is the level of legal protection that should, or should not, be accorded to an ordinary word that Microsoft adopted as its own: windows. (full story)

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