i'm a little confused as to how/why they would name a new app <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/17ical.html">iCal</a>. there's already been a very widespread open source calendar app called <a href="http://www.csee.usf.edu/cgi-bin/man-cgi?ical">ical</a>. the unix version has been around for at least 10 years and was quite popular. even to the point of forming the basis for a <a href="http://www.imc.org/rfc2445">calendar and date format internet standard</a> that is used by pretty much everyone now (including Outlook, palm pilots, my cellphone, etc). i'd be surprised if their 'iCal' app doesn't also use the 'iCal' format for sending dates and appointments around.
i guess it probably won't confuse most mac users, but those of us who already have a meaning associated with 'iCal' in our brains get screwed. not to mention how pissed the original iCal developers must be that Apple has just stolen their name. if i wrote my own OS and released it with the name 'MacOS X', you can be sure that i'd be contacted by Apple's lawyers pretty quickly.
anders pearson - 2002-07-17 14:03:38
i'm a little confused as to how/why they would name a new app <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/17ical.html">iCal</a>. there's already been a very widespread open source calendar app called <a href="http://www.csee.usf.edu/cgi-bin/man-cgi?ical">ical</a>. the unix version has been around for at least 10 years and was quite popular. even to the point of forming the basis for a <a href="http://www.imc.org/rfc2445">calendar and date format internet standard</a> that is used by pretty much everyone now (including Outlook, palm pilots, my cellphone, etc). i'd be surprised if their 'iCal' app doesn't also use the 'iCal' format for sending dates and appointments around. i guess it probably won't confuse most mac users, but those of us who already have a meaning associated with 'iCal' in our brains get screwed. not to mention how pissed the original iCal developers must be that Apple has just stolen their name. if i wrote my own OS and released it with the name 'MacOS X', you can be sure that i'd be contacted by Apple's lawyers pretty quickly.