back to article Microsoft disputes Apple's 'App Store' trademark

Microsoft is contesting Apple's trademark claim for the term "App Store", calling that term too generic to be granted protection. "Apple seeks to exclusively appropriate the phrase 'App Store' for use with its own store offering apps," says Microsoft's Opposition filing with the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. That …

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  1. mafoo
    Gates Horns

    .exe

    Surely Microsoft's should be called the executable store?

    1. chr0m4t1c
      Joke

      @.exe

      Presumably on the grounds that it will be filled with stuff that you'll want to shoot in the back of the head?

      Is that bent-metal b*stard from Office still around?

  2. David Kelly 2

    Jealousy

    Microsoft is jealous, as who would ever want to visit "The Exe Store"?

    For those who don't know, Macintosh applications generally bear a .app extension.

    1. gerryg
      Badgers

      fine...

      call it the .app store then

      I recall using the word "app" and the expression "killer app" in the late 80s, early 90s, which given my ability to be ahead of the curve probably meant they were passe then.

      The killer application for them new fangled PCs was then generally held to be Lotus 1-2-3 (or was it Visicalc?)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      extensions

      But who knows that? I thought Macs were all about getting stuff done and it doesn't matter what's "under the hood"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    WTF?

    Why the hell does this take a complaint from microsoft?

    Surely any sane person should realise Apple is taking the piss.

    What next, McDonalds trademarking the term "Drive through" or "Take Away"?

    1. StooMonster

      All about the timing

      I am sure if McD launched the 'Drive Thru' concept today their lawyers would be attempting to trademark the name and probably the process too (where possible).

    2. Giles Jones Gold badge

      lindows

      Microsoft trademarked windows and it doesn't even like made up works similar to windows being used like lindows.

    3. chriswakey

      It's

      'Drive Thru' for some reason...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Grenade

        @chriswakey

        I think you will find that it is now known (near me at least) as the 'McDrive'.

    4. Franklin

      A title is required

      "What next, McDonalds trademarking the term "Drive through" or "Take Away"?"

      Indeed. Or a company trademarking "Windows" for a windowing extension to its operating system, or...

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Troll

      re: What next, McDonalds trademarking the term "Drive through" or "Take Away"?

      or "The Real Thing"?

      Oh wait....

      I suspect "Application Store" would be turned down, but as "App" isn't a real word, it does has a chance of getting through.

  4. ratfox
    Pint

    Endless comedy

    And all thanks to the USPTO.

  5. NorthernSands
    Gates Halo

    Pot, kettle, black?

    I agree that 'App store' is a tad generic, but is it as generic as 'Windows'?

    I think not...

    1. Ragarath

      Windows

      Yes I agree it is a generic term. But not in software / computing. Your not going to confuse someone selling Windows for your house with Windows software and at least as far as I am aware they have not gone after any makers of windows you see through..

      'App Store' on the other hand is generic in the Industry it is used in.

      Make sense to me.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Makes sense but only if you cherry pick your facts...

        Windows are generic in the computing industry too - GEM, Xerox, Amiga et al, all implemented WIMP systems and what does the W stand for?

        Oh and Microsoft most certainly went after Lindows.

        It might be interesting to ask Microsoft to remove their trademark against the word "Windows" in return for the right to use the phrase "App Store". As it's exactly the same the same point of principle I wonder which way they'd jump?

        No disrepect to my transatlantic cousins as I know we in the UK get things pretty whacked out at times, but you gotta love some of these craziest examples of American Behaviour :-)

        1. Peter 48
          Stop

          nonsense

          sorry, but that is utter nonsense. you could use the same argument for using the term OSX seeing as it is simply an abbreviation of Operating system 10. The word "windows" in relation to a title for an operating system is quite obviously trade-markable seeing as it isn't descriptive but nomenclative, just like linux and iOS. MS have never pursued anyone for referring to an open display are on the computer screen as a window.

          The term "app store" however is descriptive and generic, just like toy store or supermarket. I seriously doubt toys-r-us can lay claim to the term toystore or wallmart to the term supermarket.

          1. Daniel 4
            Thumb Down

            Nonsense, indeed

            "Windows," even in computing, is first and foremost descriptive. "Microsoft Windows," "Windows 7," "Windows Vista," etc., etc. are nomenclative. However, there have been far too many windowing products in computing history, including several still in use today (X Windows, anyone?) for just the term "windows" to be definitively nomenclative among any but the ignorant or the arrogant - which, I will admit, has apparently included several courts, etc.

            -d

    2. StooMonster
      Grenade

      Spot the generic words

      Windows Phone 7

      1. mafoo

        irony

        the great irony with windows phone 7 is it doesn't have any windows.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It would be

      "Windows" would be a very generic trademark, but the trademark is actually "Microsoft Windows". You only get in touble for using words like Windows when you're selling an Operating System, as the Lindows people found out.

  6. Robert E A Harvey
    Headmaster

    et en Francais?

    In these internationalisation days, I wonder if the same fuss is being made in French, Urdu, Mandarin or Welsh?

    Thought not.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: et en Francais?

      That's a real problem. A term that is simply descriptive in one language might be registrable as a trademark in a country that speaks a different language. Countries in the EU then recognise each others' trademarks, and we end up with everyday words being "propertised".

      1. The Indomitable Gall

        I believe...

        I've been told that the UK uses the same criteria for genericity with foreign words as English ones in trademarks.

        Which leads me to want to start up a consultancy containing the word "aon" in its title. I mean, seriously, do Aon really think that they can trademark a name that is nothing more than "one"?

    2. annodomini2

      You'll typically find with french

      Specifically with french, if a new word is required they tend to use the English word, not true for everything, but most.

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Happy

        Re: You'll typically find with french

        That's always followed by the word cropping up on the next list of heinous affronts to French culture accompanied by a shiny, new French neologism from the Académie française to replace it.

        Which nobody outside the snottier parts of French government and academia ever uses.

        1. Yag

          Like the utterly ugly "mél"

          supposed to replace e-mail?

          I'll just send some courriels instead...

  7. ShaggyDoggy

    App

    Of course it helps when "App" just happens to be the first 3 letters of "Apple"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Eh?

      They already have an Apple Store, they'd probably get away with trademarking Apple App Store, but App Store seems just too generic.

    2. dssf
      WTF?

      APPle... My thoughts, too

      I think mircosfot is just bitter. It's wasting time and money on a frivolous, bogut tangent. When will that company ever learn to succed on merit, not obfuscation, hijackery, lies, and so on. It's mostly successful due by brute force and default installation, not because people LOVE microsoft.

      I'm not an Apple products consumer (although our IT guy was dumping an old G4, and i said, "I'll take it!", probably more out of junk collecting than actually expecting to be productive, and MacBooks/Pros are woefully beyond my affordability range, and while i do like some amount of fashion sense matching my hardware, i don't cravenly put it first, nor deify the makers of my software or hardware, and even as a Linux user, I don't deify Torvalds.... so, there you have that much...)

      JEEz, ms, just shut up and make a "WinAppsStore", dammit. Quit kvetching at the distraction of USPTO and other courts! They're busy enough and already corrupted enough with IT/IP shenanigans. Get over it!

  8. Martin 76

    Why not iStore?

    Just wondering what they didn't do with the i prefix they do for all their other products? Why not iStore Hmmm... Anyways, think MS is right in this term, and hopefully the silly USPTO removes this 'trademark'.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where did "app" come from?

    I don't remember people talking about "apps" before the iPhone app store. It was always programs, software, or applications on the Mac but I don't recall apps.

    1. Thomas 18
      Thumb Down

      See the post on Killer Apps above

      –noun Computers Informal.

      an application; application program.

      Origin:

      1985–90; by shortening

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        I've worked in apps dev for 20 years

        so I think Microsoft are correct to challenge this.

        It's just a generic word used in IT generally.

  10. Giles Jones Gold badge

    How amusing

    Coming from the company that managed to get a trademark on the word windows, a dictionary word.

    1. annodomini2
      Thumb Down

      Context, context, context

      Windows as we have in houses are not the same business area.

      'App' however is in context

      1. DZ-Jay

        Re: More context...

        But "windows" as in visual object containers in a graphical user interface, are the same in the computer industry, and it is a generic term coined even before Microsoft existed.

        -dZ.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Agree and disagree

    Yes, "app store" is the generic term for a store selling applications, now.

    But, personally, the first time I heard that term was in relation to Apple's "App Store".

    Isn't this like saying that they should take away Hoover's trademark as almost everyone (in the UK at least) uses the expression "hoover" to mean vacuum cleaner?

    1. bluesxman
      Grenade

      RE: Agree and disagree

      I see your point, but it's fundamentally flawed.

      "Hoover" has entered the common parlance as a generic term since becoming a trademark -- a trademark based on something that was not a "word" before, but a name.

      "App Store" has already entered the common parlance prior to the granting of a trademark, coupled with the fact that it is composed of two words already in common usage (I concede that "app" was more common in the IT arena, but store is ubiquitous).

      Common sense dictates that it's too late.

      To follow your analogy, it would be similarly too late for Hoover to turn around and trademark "vacuum cleaner" (not that they even invented it, but I digress).

      That said, I could only speculate as to often common sense informs USPTO decisions.

    2. NorthernSands
      Stop

      Hoover and Xerox

      Xerox very nearly did lose their trademark because it became a popular phrase to describe photo-copying: "to xerox something".

      Having said that, Hoover and Xerox are hardly generic words / terms (they became generic through use), where as App Store, it could be argued, started off using a generic phrase, and is being used more and more as a generic term (I suspect by the media and Mr Jobs himself, more than the end user).

      I think it's correct to challenge the trademark. If MS can keep "Microsoft Windows" (which I personally disagree with), then Apple should have "Apple App Store". But not just "Windows" nor just "App Store".

  12. burnttoys

    From the company that brought you...

    "Windows" and "Office"

    and sued "Lindows"...

    "Sock Shop" "just" sell socks...

    What's the point... I give up...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      learn to history

      While Microsoft did sue to protect its "trade mark" they looked like they would probably lose, and not wanting to have their trade mark deemed to generic they just bought the name for $20million dollars instead.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      @burnttoys

      'Sock shop' aren't trying to sue other shops that sell foot related accessories for violation of a trademark!

  13. John I'm only dancing
    Stop

    Where Apple lead

    The rest will follow. Stoopid stoopid patent trolling begets ridiculous counter claims.

    In this case, I actually think Apple do have a leg to stand on. They created the whole App store thing and everyone else jumped on the band wagon. Before 'Apps, I'm sure they were called programmes and applications that were either, freeware, shareware or licensed.

    Microsoft's beef is they didn't think of it first. Perhaps their store should be called 'Malware' because as any fool knows, microsoft = malware.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Feel the pain?

    Does one detect a sense of pain in MS announcement?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Did Apple coin the term?

    For clarification, this is more a question than an assertion. I don't recollect ever hearing the term "App Store" or even "App" prior to Apple's use of them with the iPhone. There were Applets and Applications, and MS seems to like the term "Programs". It seems to me that the terms "Apps" and "App Store" really only appeared (and came into common use) with the iPhone.

    If this is the case, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that Apple should have some rights with respect to these terms. No doubt MS and others desperately want a piece of the "App" and "App Store" action, but I recall a time when they were all laughing at Apple's attempts (Hi Steve Balmer). I'm not impressed that they now claim these same ideas should be considered commonplace.

    But if the terms "App" and "App Store" were already in use, and Apple merely popularised them, it would be ludicrous for Apple to make claims on them. Can anyone pinpoint prior examples?

    1. The Indomitable Gall

      Yes, they coined the term, but...

      "App store" was an Apple coinage, but it was coined in a generic way.

      As others have already stated, "app" and "store" were both generic terms. More importantly, the pattern <something> store is a very common generic pattern.

      MS's main argument is that showing a generic word into a generic pattern gives a generic result.

      Imagine someone invented a hoverboard (like in Back to the Future 2). What term would you use to describe a place that sells them? "hoverboard store" (US) or "hoverboard shop" (UK). You wouldn't expect the first place that sells hoverboards to get that as a trademark, would you?

      That merely leads to goldrushes, not genuine innovation or creativity.

    2. Axel
      Go

      1990 early enough

      'App' was in common usage way before 'Web' or 'Internet' were. Finding an old reference online could be a bit tricky, but here's an article from 1990.

      http://books.google.ca/books?id=rFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT91&lpg=PT91&dq=%22killer+app%22+dos&source=bl&ots=95hxw4m418&sig=7YCEbS1PmHS0cj41ZEOZx6OR9po&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22killer%20app%22%20dos&f=false

  16. Tigra 07
    Thumb Up

    What a joke!

    "The undisputed evidence shows that 'app store' is a generic name for a store offering apps"

    An unbelievably vague description that could also affect any site like Softpedia or Downloadpal.

    They should have trademarked "Apple Store" so we could see Grany Smith in court suing them

  17. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Ironic

    to see this coming from the ones that registered the oh-not-generic-at-all "Windows"… We are living in interesting times.

    1. Thomas 18
      FAIL

      Fail

      Theres software called:

      Lotus

      Excell

      Opera

      Snow Leopard

      Pidgin

      etc etc etc

      All these are generic words but they are trademarks because they are completely out of context of the original word. A trademark covers you for your domain only. You can't make a webbrowser called Opera or an OS called Windows but you can write an Opera called The Opera.

      App Store in its original context is a store where you buy applications (any applications for any platform). It is not innovative at all. Just like Microsoft couldn't have called Windows "Operating System" and prevented reuse of the phrase.

    2. sab0tage
      Thumb Down

      But...

      they don't manufacture glass panes and frames. They are in a different industry where Windows is unique, if they had called it "Operating System" and tried to prevent everyone else from using that then I'm sure Apple would complain about having to call their OS "Apple Hardware Management and Software Platform X" or something.

  18. skyroski
    Thumb Up

    Before you take sides, you ought to know...

    You're not supposed to trademark descriptive words, and it's not a US only thing either.

    Personally, I don't like either of them, but for once I hope MS succeeds in stopping the new MS of the late 2000.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tricky one

    I think that the Press (et al) use App Store as a generic moniker for these systems.

    Many people use the trademarked names Hoover or Biro to refer to devices that are not actually manufactured under those names.

    Cheers

    Jon

    1. Trevor Marron

      Biro

      I actually got a letter from Société Bic's legals pointing out that 'Biro' was actually a trademark and not a generic term and should be used in he format 'Bic® Biro®'

      It was a while ago though.

  20. James Melody
    Gates Halo

    I'm with Microsoft on this

    Apple are taking the proverbial on this. I can't believe it even needs Microsoft to (wait for it) stand up for common sense.

  21. LtJoker

    srsly

    @Giles Jones

    Yeah, they should have gone for some word that isn't in the dictionary, like "apple". Oh wait.

  22. Alan Denman

    I imagine 'Steve says' is trademarked too.

    I imagine 'Steve says no' is well worthy of a trademark by Apple.

  23. Ben Tasker

    I may be wrong

    but if a word/phrase enters common parlance doesn't it become impossible to TM it?

    IIRC Google were getting nervous about the fact people used the word 'Google' as a synonym for Search, even if they were using different search engines.

    So if the press are calling everything an 'App Store', could this qualify?

    FWIW I'm sure I heard people talking about 'Killer Apps' long before the iPhone and it's bretheren appeared.

    Could you trademark 'Binary Boutique' do you think? I like the ring it has to it!

  24. davefb

    re hoover.

    well actually, thats why a lot of this trademark stuff goes on, because Hoover DID lose a lot of rights by not protecting its name (or maybe not protecting it well enough) when people used to use the term generically, .. It's now a 'generic trademark' ( according to wiki)

    others are aspirin , heroin and lino ( however that's spelt).

    And as for '.exe' shop, I'm guessing this is from the 'nothing was invented before steve' school of thought, application is the generic term and predates things like .com or .exe or .app or .bat or (etc). You would typically have system software and application software.

  25. Efros
    Pint

    Contortionist self harming Jobs.

    "With that utterance, Jobs may have pulled off the non-too-easy feat of simultaneously shooting himself in the foot while putting his foot in his mouth."

    I'd pay money to see that!

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Coat

      Re: Contortionist self harming Jobs.

      Actually I don't recall any unexpected periods of darkness recently, so it would seem that he managed all this while simultaneously keeping the sun shining out of his arse.

      Sheer genius that man.

  26. Reginald Reader

    Really a store?

    I may be harping on a bit but it bugs me that they can call anything that sells you a clone of something they ultimately get to keep a store. A traditional store has overheads to deal with - stock control, managing supply and demand, dealing with staff. You buy something and they have to do something about the resulting empty shelf space. Somehow the metaphor seems to break down in this context.

    1. Paul 135

      Software/Program/Application SHOP

      agreed - goddamn Americans! Normally the American terminology of "store" for a shop is good because really all most shops are doing is storing goods made by others. However, in this online software reselling sense the British "shop" definitely makes much more sense!

  27. Mark .

    Well I'm glad someone's done this!

    Indeed, people have most certainly been referring to these online app stores as "app stores" (indeed, I just did it there - what other term is there?)

    It did occur to me that "App Store" should be untrademarkable, as it's a pre-existing generic term to describe what it is. Generic words can be used as trademarks, but only if they're not describing the same kind of thing you're selling.

    So a company called "Apple" selling computers is one thing. A company that sells apples calling themselves "The Apple Shop" - even if the existing Apple never existed - is another matter.

    It's like opening a supermarket and calling it "The Supermarket". No, you don't get a trademark. Or at least, I hope not.

    Additionally, even if there was an argument that the trademark was once valid, this should no longer be the case due to the term now being generic.

    (Microsoft previous encountered this problem themselves when it came to the Windows vs Lindows case, and the judge ruled against MS. The problem wasn't "window" meaning a piece of glass in a wall - the problem was that "window" was already a term used in computing used to refer to the GUI item.)

  28. Mark .

    Full list

    The full list that Apple claims ownership is at http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.html .

    Another one that stands out is "Multi-Touch" - Apple claim to own that?

    Someone unimportant should release a load of products using common words prefixed with "i", and then what when Apple try to use someone else's trademark :) (Or wait, are they going to claim they trademarked the process of putting "i" in front of words?)

    And those people comparing to Windows are missing the point - as I say in my other comment, the court *did* rule against MS. If someone challenged them, it's quite possible that they would lose that trademark. Yes, maybe MS are being two-faced, but in terms of what trademarks should be, it's entirely consistent here. App Store shouldn't be trademarkable - saying "But Windows is generic too" is no argument, as that shouldn't be trademarkable either.

    "Isn't this like saying that they should take away Hoover's trademark as almost everyone (in the UK at least) uses the expression "hoover" to mean vacuum cleaner?"

    Yes, it is like that. Companies lose rights over the trademarks if they become generic ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3006486.stm ).

    However, "app store" did not simply become generic - both "app" and "store" were also pre-existing terms that described their product, and the pattern of "X store" to describe something is also generic. (Just because the media didn't give hype and free advertising to them before Apple came along, doesn't change anything.) This is different to "Hoover", which was AFAIK entirely made up by them originally.

    Here in the UK, "shop" seems a bit more common than "store". Now there's a thought - can I trademark "App Shop"?

  29. ShaggyDoggy

    Kipper App

    oops I must mean killer app, the first one I even heard of was Lotus 123 back in the early 80's, long before Apple (the computer company not the music company) which of course resulted in the IBM PC becoming de facto

    1. Badwolf

      Dates

      Apple started making pooters in 1977, Long before Lotus 123

  30. JaitcH
    Jobs Horns

    Isn't 'Apple' generic, too.

    After MS has delisted more Apple Tosh maybe it should turn it's lawyers loose on those two orchard farmers words apple and the cultivar with red and green skin, a tart flavour, and tender white flesh called McIntosh Red (or McIntosh, popularly 'the Mac').

    This strain of apples was discovered in 1811 by John McIntosh on his farm in Dundela, a hamlet near Morrisburg, in Dundas County, Ontario, Canada.

    Definitely not Californian or 20th Century. There Jobs goes plagiarising yet again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Another One

      I've got a Mcculloch Pro Mac Chainsaw which massively pre-dates the Mac Pro computer, a stupid person might read too quickly and get them confused.

      Imagine suing Apple because you got confused and invalidated the warranty by trying to fell a tree with your laptop!!!!

      Well I thought it was amusing

  31. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    to all those who never heard of 'apps' before apple

    How about google apps, launched before the iphone existed? And they wern't the first either.

    Maybe if YOU haven't heard of a common IT term before Apple then you are not the best person to judge on IT related trademarks.

    Also the generic term for what windows is was a 'window manager' not a 'windows'. And microsoft have not stopped makers of other OSs describing a window in their OS as a window. So it is not a similar case at all.

    I suggest all the Apple fanboys crawl back under the rocks that they came out from.

  32. Danny 4
    Gates Horns

    MS Insectarium(tm)

    Shouldn't the Microsoft app store be The Bug House?

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apps

    There are quite a few comments regarding never having heard of the term "App" before Apple popularised it. I presume they are from people new to the industry - last decade or so, maybe?

    Having started in IT in the mid-1980's I can categorically state that, especially in the early days, "App" was in very regular usage. Not as popular as "software" but more so than "program" as that way we could avoid the inevitable arguments over the spellings back then (program/programme, disk/disc etc).

    1. John Molloy
      WTF?

      Apps Really 1985?

      "Having started in IT in the mid-1980's I can categorically state that, especially in the early days, "App" was in very regular usage. "

      I think they were called programmes back then. Yes, with, that BBC spelling too. That's why they were called programmers and not Applicators or Application Consultants.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        @John Molloy

        I started in IT in the late 1980s.

        My first job was as an apps developer in the Application Development department.

        Of course, back then, an application was usually a suite of programmes all packaged together to create a large functional area (such as our customer management system) , whereas these days they tend to be small monolithic programmes for catapulting birds etc.

        Just because YOU didn't hear the term back then doesn't mean it wasn't in use.

  34. waltg
    Jobs Horns

    Why don't they go for "applapps"?

    ...and of course their site for adult content "applflapps" !

  35. mraak

    App Shoppe

    Anyone?

  36. Paul 999
    FAIL

    1st in, 1st served...

    Your a loser Ballmer, pure & simple.

  37. welshman10

    Have they trademarked BSOD?

    Microsoft shut down a local computer store where I live because it was called Mike O'Soft

  38. Bob 18
    Linux

    Pot Calling the Kettle Black...

    Isn't this the company that tried its best to trademark such common words as "windows" and "office"?

  39. dct
    Gates Horns

    MS suck

    Officially there's no such thing as "X Windows". It can legally be called "X" or "The X Windowing System"... MS threatened them...

    Other people can talk about interfaces that use "windows", but can't use "Windows" as part of their system title (even though at the time X was lauched "Windows" wasn't the household name it is today - DOS was still king, and MS Windows was hardly out of beta).

    "App Store" is common parlance now, but three years ago the term was new, and popularised by Apple.

    Should other people be allowed to have an "app store"? Yes.

    Should they be able to describe it as an "app store"? Yes

    Should they be allowed to call it their "App Store"? No.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    i Phone anyone?

    When I was first messing with VOIP a few years back I got a USB handset called "i phone" long before an Apple device appeared with a confusingly similar name - although I note apple don't have a space between i and phone and they capitalise Phone.

    (Mine is labelled "i phone" on the front and "i Phone" on the back).

    Does that invalidate any Apple claim to the name on the basis of "prior art"?

    Btw the "i phone" didn't work very well, anyone want it?

  41. Badwolf

    Easy

    Simples

    Let Apple use the App Store and Microsoft can use "Crap Store"

  42. bugalugs

    Don't care what they do with App

    Just leave Store alone.

  43. taxman
    Jobs Horns

    Was I asleep

    when Apple took the BBC to court over the use of iPlayer? Or was that all a dream to look forward to?

  44. Maryland, USA

    Youth speaks

    After reading about this yesterday, I asked my 20-year-old daughter. 'Let's do a word association game. When I say, "app store," what comes to mind?'

    Without a pause, she replied, 'Apple.'

    (Her computer is a MacBook, her MP3 player an iPod Touch.)

  45. Brennan Young
    Gates Horns

    It's the 'store' bit which is innovative, not 'app'

    So much talk about 'app'. Yes the word predates the iPhone. Get over it. And as others have pointed out, NeXT/OpenStep/OSX executables have the .app suffix, rather than .exe. which is not insignificant. (I often imagine that .exe is short for "execrable"). Also the Mac has always had an 'Applications' folder, whereas Windows has always had 'Program Files'.

    OK, that's that but AFAIK there was no in-device software 'store' before the app store.

    Best you could do before iPhone apps was go to one of those woeful and scary looking handheld-software review sites, with some kind of e-commerce thing bolted on. They always had the impression of being run by eastern european gangsters and riddled with malware, and often seemed to offer endless opportunities of carrying you into some kind of link-farm labyrinth.

    Making a piece of software which strictly controls the process of buying and installing software which runs on the very device where the software will eventually run, and calling it a 'store' is something innovative.

    Granted it's not like discovering gravity, or inventing free market capitalism, but it *is* an innovation. IMNSHO this gives Apple good reason for laughing Microsoft's petty dispute out of court.

    As for 'Windows', it's a name which has always made me nauseous because it implies that other OSen don't have windows, or that Microsoft invented the concept, whereas Windows was very much the catch-up windowing GUI tech in the mid 1980s. Rather hilariously, the 'windows' in Windows version 1 could not overlap and could not be dragged around the screen. Nobody these days would recognise such a GUI element as a 'window' today.

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