A Rosa Berberifolia By Any Other Name

451 CAOS Theory: What's in a Name? Open Source Is.

"Companies that sell and support open source software have been acting like garage bands lately, changing names in significant numbers as the year draws to a close. One theme of all the new nomenclature: association with open source.

"The first example is Centeris, which recently changed its name to to LikeWise Software. The new name is based on its LikeWise software for Active Directory integration of Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac, which has exceeded expectations..."

Complete Story

TechIQ: Corporate Name Changes Done Right

"Generally speaking, tech companies that change their name are heading for disaster. But in the cases of Centric CRM (an open source company that has renamed itself Concursive) and SWsoft (the company behind Parallels for the Mac), The VAR Guy thinks corporate name changes are exactly what the doctor ordered.

"First, let's look at some name-change disasters. Two prime examples: Borland in 1998 changed its name to Inprise amid fierce competition from Microsoft. The change also attempted to distance Borland from founder and former CEO Philippe Kahn's legacy. The move proved horrendous--and Inprise ultimately retreated back to the Borland brand..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Virtualization Vendor SWSoft Adopts the Parallels Name(Dec 14, 2007)
• Centric CRM Changes Name, Releases 5.0 Version(Dec 13, 2007)
• Centeris Changes Identity Again(Dec 05, 2007)
• InfoWorld Nederland: Likewise Manages Mixed Windows/Linux Shops(Aug 02, 2006)