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Why did Mandrake become Mandriva, and GAIM become Pidgin, and Fedora Core become Fedora? And so many others? Are the reasons all similar cases or unique? I sort of understand ...
  1. 03-01-2009 #1
    Artesia
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    Why do linux distros and apps change names so much?

    Why did Mandrake become Mandriva, and GAIM become Pidgin, and Fedora Core become Fedora? And so many others? Are the reasons all similar cases or unique?

    I sort of understand why commercial applications/companies/businesses change names for legal reasons, but is linux in that same boat?
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  2. 03-01-2009 #2
    GNU-Fan
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    Quote Originally Posted by Artesia View Post
    I sort of understand why commercial applications/companies/businesses change names for legal reasons, but is linux in that same boat?
    Given that Mandriva is a thoroughly commercial distribution, I'd say yes.

    Linux wasn't called "Linux" from day one either. And sometimes people use different names when they refer to the same thing. "GNU; GNU/Linux; Linux"

    Sometimes names change to express a change in policy. "Solaris" -> "OpenSolaris"
    "Free Software" <-> "Open Source"

    Sometimes a product grows so much in features that the old name would be misleading. AIM was the first protocol GAIM supported. Nowadays it supports some twenty.

    Sometimes people grow weary of the name or the focus just shifts.

    And sometimes words even start sounding offensive due to political correctness reasons.
    Debian GNU/Linux -- You know you want it.
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  3. 03-01-2009 #3
    elija
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    Mandriva was the result of two things...

    1. Mandrake lost a case against Hurst communications claiming infringment of the "Mandrake the Magician" trademark.
    2. Mandrake bought a company called Connectiva

    Fedora core dropped the core when the core and extras repositories were merged.
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  4. 03-02-2009 #4
    Artesia
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    Ok, so it's all over the board then. Thanks!
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