Python Trademark Filer Ignorant of Python? 261
WebMink writes "Is it possible that the CEO of the company that's trying to file a trademark on 'Python' was unaware of Python's importance as a programming technology? That's what he claims — despite running a hosting company that's trying to break into cloud computing, where Python is used extensively. Still, he also regards the Python Software Foundation as a hostile American company and thinks that getting attention from half the world's geeks is a DDoS. From the article: '[The CEO, Tim Poultney,] confirmed that he'd not involved any technical staff in the decisions he'd made about the Python product brand, and told me he regretted that as it would probably have helped him understand the likely reaction to his trademark challenge. ... He said he now understood how offended the global developer community are and told me there was obviously only one outcome that was now possible.'"
Company lacks credibility (Score:2, Insightful)
As a young wannabe programmer, I feel that this company has to be pretty clueless to be in the computing business and not know about one of the most popular programming languages today. The fact that it uses the largely meaningless and sensationalistic "cloud computing" buzzword also harms its credibility.
Hanlon's razor (Score:5, Insightful)
How to not make a high-profile company (Score:5, Insightful)
If I was registering a new company, the last thing I would want to give my company or servers etc is a name that already pulls up millions of pages in a simple web search.
It just sounds like somebody was clueless and doesn't even know how people find services on the internet these days.
Re:Company lacks credibility (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact that it uses the largely meaningless and sensationalistic "cloud computing" buzzword also harms its credibility.
That's a hard case to make nowadays, whether we like it or not. Not having heard of Python is ridiculous though.
The Real WTF (Score:5, Insightful)
[The CEO, Tim Poultney,] confirmed that he'd not involved any technical staff in the decisions he'd made about the Python product brand
Seriously? I know a lot of CEOs have more branding experience than many developers but making single-minded decisions about your company's future, with no input from those who are likely to be affected most by those decisions, does not sound like the thinking of a leader.
Re:Company lacks credibility (Score:5, Insightful)
Much though I despise the term, "cloud computing" is not meaningless or even sensationalistic, and there are some very big companies who have built their success on cloud computing. It is, perhaps, over-hyped and watered down, and it's undeniably a buzzword. It's also pretty misunderstood, as you yourself are evidence of (the basic concept is simply "hosted computing services"). However, to say you think a company lacks credibility because they speak of cloud computing is, frankly, idiotic.
The first part of your post makes sense, though. I could understand a company that wasn't deeply involved with computer software might not be aware of a programming language, even a common one, although you'd think they might make at least a trivial web search. However, for a software-focused company to be unaware of Python's importance is, frankly, unbelievable. This guy is just trying to pull whatever damage control he can.
More realistically, (Score:5, Insightful)
Folly is the cloak of knavery
Not 95% of hosting companies (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No, that is not possible (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No, that is not possible (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not so sure about this. If you were running a corporation and only cared about the bottom line, the last thing you'd do is choose a high-risk action like getting into a trademark fight that you're not likely to win because you're trying to steal a trademark from an organization that's been using that same name for a long time and is in wide global usage by an extremely large number of people (developers), and which name is extremely well-known in the It industry. A true smart sociopath would not do such a thing. Only a clueless moron (possibly still a sociopath, but not a smart one), probably one who got his job solely because of his frat-buddy connections, would do something this dumb.
Re:No, that is not possible (Score:4, Insightful)
No, they used to serve shareholders, now they serve themselves and if they have to fabricate information to justify their big fat bonuses, they will spin doctor a warthog's rectum into a silk clutch and a lovely pair of ear rings to do so. All you have to do is look at the long line of investors who've had their collective financial asses handed to them over the last 5 years while CEOs continue to samba all the way to the bank. I think nowadays, a Fortune 100 CEO would have to actually wear a Lady Gaga style meat suit made of skinned live babies, to even raise an eyebrow.