Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!tektronix!tekgen!tekigm!phils From: phils@tekigm.UUCP (Phil Staub) Newsgroups: net.sources Subject: Re: VC Message-ID: <1118@tekigm.UUCP> Date: Tue, 13-Jan-87 00:24:30 EST Article-I.D.: tekigm.1118 Posted: Tue Jan 13 00:24:30 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Jan-87 01:04:55 EST References: <455@sii.UUCP> <597@calma.UUCP> Reply-To: phils@tekigm.UUCP (Phil Staub) Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 52 In article <597@calma.UUCP> smithson@calma.UUCP (Brian Smithson) writes: >In article <455@sii.UUCP> drd@sii.UUCP (David Dick) writes: >>[...] >>'vc' is a registered trademark of Software Innovations, Inc. for >>our UNIX(R) spreadsheet. We've been selling our spreadsheet >>under that name for 5 years now. >>[...] >>named "sc", for spreadsheet calculator. I think a good name >>for this new incarnation would be "sc2" (or"sc3" if you want >>to count Mark Weiser's version). > >I'd recommend against sc2 or sc3, not necessarily because of >trademark violations (but perhaps...), but because of confusion >with SuperCalc 2 and Supercalc 3, normally abbreviated as sc2 and sc3. I nearly replied to David's original posting, but hesitated until I saw Brian's, which seems to bear out the point which I would have originally made: One might find it very difficult to find a program name which does not conflict in some way with somebody's copyrighted program name, at least when invoked by the (typically) two- or three-letter name which UNIX (TM) users (and presumably nearly anyone else who uses command line-type interfaces) are so fond of. Think about it: there are a very small number of single character program names, and not terrifically more two character names. Even three character names would hardly be immune to this problem. Presumably, one names a program by a name which seems to suggest something about the purpose of the program, with very little consideration of similar command names chosen by other developers. Now, if I were to decide to market a software package (read: for money), I would feel obligated to attempt to avoid conflict with someone else's package, for two reasons: 1) to avoid copyright infringement suits, particularly if my package were to become a great success, and 2) to avoid any negative publicity, in the event that someone else's package is not as well written as mine (presumably) might be. For this reason, I refuse to be particularly concerned about finding a (non-copyrighted) name to use if and when I submit any public domain software to this net. I will submit it by whatever name I happen to use for it on my system, and worry about the copyright infringement suit when it happens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phil Staub tektronix!tekigm!phils (206) 253-5634 Tektronix, Inc., ISI Engineering P.O.Box 3500, M/S C1-904, Vancouver, Washington 98668 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phil Staub tektronix!tekigm!phils (206) 253-5634 Tektronix, Inc., ISI Engineering P.O.Box 3500, M/S C1-904, Vancouver, Washington 98668