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m463

Maybe we could change the filetype from .js to .bho

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litigation_involving_Apple_Inc...

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Just call it JS it’s more popular than ECMAscript

JabbaScript

Call it WebScript. It has nothing to do with Java anyway.

This is an incredible suggestion!

I suppose we don’t really care anymore about WebScript[1] the scripting language of Apple’s old WebObjects framework[2].

[1] https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Le...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebObjects

This quote makes me giggle:

One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase 'butt-head'."

There’s another part of this story that Wikipedia leaves out

The other two original Power Mac models had the code names “Piltdown Man” and “Cold Fusion”—not exactly the sort of thing someone like Sagan would want to be implicitly associated with.

Why would Sagan not want to be associated with cold fusion?

Perhaps Sagan had undisclosed resentment toward Adobe ColdFusion as well.

Because it was only like 5 years after Fleischmann and Pons sparked headlines in every major newspaper as scientific frauds?

After a few weeks of excitement over the Fleischmann/Pons thing, cold fusion has never since been taken seriously by fusion researchers. It's a dead idea as far as I'm aware.

That'd require giving Oracle unwarranted attention.

The Sagan bit was funny because Apple engineers transitioned from loving him to resenting him :)

Seems .law (lawyers are wimps) is more fitting

It already has a name that describes its developer experience better than JavaScript. The extension should match. .es for EczemaScript.

I just learned about this case today.

Based purely on the Wikipedia description, Sagan's request seems reasonable, from a moral perspective at least. I have no idea why Apple (or its engineers) would be so butthurt about it.

Because it was just a silly internal code name for an unreleased product and Carl Sagon was just being a killjoy to his own fans. That he continued to escalate with lawsuits makes him look ridiculous frankly...

His reason was "concerned that it would become a product endorsement," and it was after the name was "publicized," which sounds reasonable to me.

The joy can only go so far, IMHO. If the namesake person asked for it, you comply—pretty simple. I can totally see why people aren’t comfortable with their name being used without permission, even without the endorsement concern.

Personally, I think the subsequent libel lawsuits demonstrates it was all just ego

So he was supposed to just accept being called "Butt-Head Astronomer"? Sure, I’d respect him more if he did, but I’m not going to call him pompous or having a big ego just because he didn’t.

Well, suing for libel clearly shows he's an idiot, since there's no claim of fact.

Usually if you file a patently frivolous lawsuit, you get sanctioned.

It’s not very nice to call someone a butthead, but to sue over it just sort of makes their case.

I'm a bit lost here. Shouldn't the blame fall more on the people who used someone else's name without permission and acted like jerks when asked to stop?

Why are we holding the victim to a higher standard now?

It's possible for someone to have the legal right to demand something and still be a butthead for demanding it. Noting that fact doesn't make you a jerk.

As I mentioned earlier, I was not here to debate the legality of his (or Apple’s) actions, but from the moral perspective.

In my view, what the Apple engineers did was inappropriate, especially when they doubled down after being asked to stop. It’s not unlike typical bullying behaviors seen in high school ("it's just a joke, why so serious?"). Jokes on someone else are only funny when they approve them.

The moral perspective is what we're talking about. Resorting to the courts over petty nonsense is not a moral act.

Not approving the joke because you can't take a joke is a moral flaw.

That's a good point.

If he had called Apple “a butthead fruit company”, it wouldn’t make sense to hold him to higher standard.

But a legal response to some light hearted rudeness? That was him taking things to a significantly lower standard.

If instead, he had used “Butthead Astronomer” to refer to himself on occasion, that would have only added to his (already significant and well deserved) legendary status.

> If he had called Apple “a butthead fruit company”, it wouldn’t make sense to hold him to higher standard.

What is this supposed to mean?

That nobody should critique someone, for such a proportional response.

Yes, that's the nature of free speech. Butt-Head is clearly a statement of opinion and not of fact. Apple is entitled to communicate their opinion of people. It is clearly not defamatory.

He always struck me as a bit of a pompous ass.

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