I've heard the term 'hoover the carpets' umteen times over the years...think it comes from the fact that Hoover manufactured the first and only commercially available vaccuum cleaner. My mother now owns an Electrolux, but she still refers to it as hoovering.
| So if Microsoft didn't prevent people from using the word "Windows" in some other piece of software it moves into public domain and EVERYONE can use it. |
Thing is 'Windows' has more or less become a generic term of reference for any window opened on a computer, including Macs. Besides, umpteen different companies have included 'Window/s' in the names of their software, including Stardock with WindowFX. I think a problem would arise, however, if someone tried to release an OS with the name Windows.
Personally, I think it's ridiculous that a company which operates in the public domain would try to limit the general use of names that have become household terms by which people identify various products...it's like being sued for calling a spade a spade.
And don't get me started on the McDonalds fast food juggernaut, which sued an independent bakery that also sold burgers, pies and etc here in Oz. It had been trading under the McDonalds name since 1863, a good century before Ronald Mcdonald was ever thought of, but the U.S. fast food giant still won the case to stop the bakery using the name....effing ridiculous and wrong. The bakery no longer exists ....bankrupted by the enormous costs imposed on it to defend its legal right to use its own family name.
