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Apple & TIBCO Reportedly Settle Over Rendezvous; Welcome To OpenTalk

by , 5:15 PM EDT, July 22nd, 2004

Apple has reportedly settled a lawsuit with TIBCO over the use of the name "Rendezvous" for Apple's implementation of the ZeroConf networking protocol. The lawsuit was filed in August of 2003, with TIBCO accusing Apple of knowing that the name was already in use for a networking-related product.

In a statement from TIBCO at the time the lawsuit was filed, George Ahn, chief marketing officer for the company said, "Rendezvous has been a TIBCO mark for many years and is one of our flagship products. For quite some time we have tried to reach an amicable agreement but, given Apple's continual refusal to honor our trademark, we have been forced to take action."

Apple uses Rendezvous in its network printing, file sharing, iTunes, iChat, and other networking uses, but TIBCO claimed a trademark on the name for its own networking technology designed for the Enterprise space. TIBCO introduced its Rendezvous product in 1994, while Apple introduced its Rendezvous in 2002.

In October of 2003, TMO reported that TIBCO had also gone after developers overseas who were using the Rendezvous name in relation to Mac products using Apple's technology.

AppleInsider first reported the settlement yesterday, and both AppleInsider and eWEEK are reporting today that terms of the settlement have not been made public, and that Apple will be phasing out its use of Rendezvous. From eWEEK:

A representative of TIBCO Software Inc., based in Palo Alto, Calif., told eWEEK.com that the suit had been "amicably resolved" but declined to comment further. An Apple Computer Inc. representative declined to comment. Details of the agreement have not been made public.

eWEEK also reports that Apple has applied for a trademark on "OpenTalk" that might be Apple's new name for the technology. The description in the trademark application is very similar to Rendezvous's use. Check out either of the above articles for more information.

As of now, Apple's Rendezvous Web site is still up and active.

The Mac Observer Spin:

It's not too surprising that Apple settled with TIBCO. As we said back in August, the facts seemed to support TIBCO's claims. Apple has a history now of using names already in use, such as FairPlay, and for a company that is quick to jump on anyone treading on its own trademarks and trade dress, it's ironic for Apple not to put more effort in not stepping on someone else's toes. TIBCO seems to have successfully stepped back, though that is strictly our interpretation of the situation.

On to better things, OpenTalk is an interesting choice for a replacement name, assuming that ends up being the case. It harkens back to AppleTalk, Apple's networking technology from the early days of personal computers. It's also an appropriate name in that Apple has made its implementation of this technology, which itself is based on the open source ZeroConf protocol, open source for both Mac and Windows. OpenTalk for an open source networking protocol. We like it.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
View Name:Guest
Subject: We all know where Apple got the name "Apple"
Close Name:jimothy Posts: 581 Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Subject: SmallTalk

SmallTalk is not a networking technology, but a programming language create by Xerox's PARC. It is one of the original object oriented programming (OOP) languages, and is still considered to the "purest" OOP language.

P.S. I'd also like to see Steve Jobs host Saturday Night Live.

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7329 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

Thanks for the correction, Jimothy!

Bryan
Editor
TMO

Close Name:mahuti -   TMO Staff Posts: 370 Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Subject: better

I always thought that rendezvous was a terrible networking name. I know what it implies, but it just didn't *sound* simple. OpenTalk is a better name, in my opinion.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Let's not forget...
Close Name:Dean Lewis Posts: 156 Joined: 29 Sep 2001
Subject:

While it may sound logical, there is some old baggage being carried around by the Appletalk name. IT folks notoriously derided Appletalk for being "chatty" and slowing down networks. It was yet another excuse, and only loosely factual, for marginalizing Macintoshes in the workplace. My understanding was that "Rendezvous" was chosen to get away from the "talk" connotation.

So, now that Rendezvous is being changed to OpenTalk, will IT folks begin to try to make the connection once more? It'd be sad if they do since this is an implementation of a technology that is for all platforms, but that hasn't stopped the IT mob mentality from clamping down on technologies before...

Close Name:Dirt Road Posts: 1228 Joined: 24 Oct 2002
Subject:

Why not just call it ZeroConf and get it over with? Too geeky?

Close Name:ld Posts: 9 Joined: 20 Mar 2004
Subject: Re: Dirt Road's comment...

Calling it ZeroConf would cause confusion.

There'd be the protocol ZeroConf and also an implementation of that protocol also called ZeroConf - not a good idea. Protocols are specifications rather than actual software. But calling it OpenZeroConf or FreeZeroConf (like OpenBSD/FreeBSD) would work.

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7329 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

Nicely put, Id. Thanks for the post.

Bryan
Editor
TMO

View Name:Guest
Subject: Regarding the MacObserver spin
Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2928 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject: Re: Regarding the MacObserver spin

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
IAfter all, Rendezvous is an everyday word.


Yes, but Rendezvous is not a word in common use in computing, whereas "windows" was/is (being used to describe those things in which documents and applications appear). Big difference.

Close Name:Sanjay Posts: 29 Joined: 05 Jul 2001
Subject: New name aside, what does this mean for Apple

I commented in the original article about what TIBCO Rendezvous actually did and why Apple should settle (follow TMO's link in the article).

Basically things have moved on significantly for Apple since the law suits and the importance of settling has become even higher. With the PM G5, XServe G5 and XGrid set to propel Apple far into the HPC (High Performance Computing) market, with the Big Mac and Mach 5 supercomputers, it begs the question where is the market for these machines. So far it has been educational and military establishments investing in these set-ups. The other market than can afford these sort of machines and justify them from an economic perspective? The Finance sector.

The finance sector and in particular investment banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanely, UBS, Deutsche Bank etc., etc.) already spend millions on computer hardware and are investing in Blade Servers and clusters to do their financial calculations. The more they can do more quickly, the more they can trade and the more money they can make. What do all these companies have in common? They are all customers of TIBCO Rendezvous.

They all use TIBCO Rendezvous for delivering real time market data (share prices, foreign exchange rates, prices for everything from frozen orange juice to weather derivatives).

So if you want to do more financial calculations more quickly what do you do? Turn to HPC alternatives. The best price / performance? Well according to Virginia Tech, the US Army's contractors, etc., well its a cluster of Apple G5's. $5m is a big budget but not an outrageous one for the companies above. Unfortunately for Apple, the financial calculations require real time prices for them to be useful, which means that TIBCO Rendezvous needs to be ported to Mac OS X, which means that the importance of settling this lawsuit had become a lot more vital since the success of the G5.

Sanj

View Name:Guest
Subject: OpenTalk also in use
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