Fuck it, let's just call it ECMAScript and be done with it. JavaScript was a purposefully horrible name to begin with (as other commenters have pointed out). One less thing Oracle can jerk us around on. I'm just going to call it ES or ECMAScript from now on. If enough people do it the matter will be settled.
> let's just call it ECMAScript and be done with it
Fuck it, let's just call it ECMAScript and be done with it. JavaScript was a purposefully horrible name to begin with (as other commenters have pointed out). One less thing Oracle can jerk us around on. I'm just going to call it ES or ECMAScript from now on. If enough people do it the matter will be settled.
I knew that Microsoft had to call their ECMAScript implementation JScript, but it never dawned on me that Oracle is the current owner of the "JavaScript" trademark: http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=2416017&caseSearchType=US_... Between this and Oracle's ongoing lawsuit against Google for their use of Java in Android, I have a pretty low opinion of Oracle.
I always assumed it was because that was Microsoft's "embrace, extend, extinguish" era and they didn't want to use the name "Java" but did want to imply that it was compatible. Also at the time, pretty sure that Sun still owned Java?
Should we actually start calling it "Yavascript"? ref: https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death...
Another comment pointed out that Netscape originally planned to call it LiceScript but was encouraged by Sun to change it JavaScript so I say if we're going to change the name we go with the original one. Either that or argue that the original holder of the Java trademark essentially blessed the use of its mark and continue calling it JavaScript.
LiceScript? Pretty apt name for something that has infested the web!
It is unfortunate that "ECMAScript" is simply a terrible name. I understand why the term is used, but that doesn't make it inherently good, easy to say, or memorable. Fortunately the ES shorthand is more workable (e.g. ES6, ES2017, etc).
I'm surprised that "JavaScript" has not become a generic trademark [0]. Examples from the Wikipedia article include Thermos, Chapstick, and Dumpster. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
This must be the reason that you can't say Legos online without being corrected.
I think its just grating for grammar nazis, rather than a legal issue. It's like saying sheeps.
I'm surprised that "JavaScript" has not become a generic trademark [0]. Examples from the Wikipedia article include Thermos, Chapstick, and Dumpster. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
A test case might be needed. If Oracle were to sue a deep-pocketed competitor over the trademark, then we might find a court reaching the conclusion that the trademark has been diluted and the name is now generic. But if Oracle does no such thing, and sues only shallow-pocketed "nobodies", then the legal status of the mark will remain unclear. My guess is Oracle would only do the latter, and that they're doing it bec…
This is Oracle. "Never attribute to malice [...]" doesn't apply to Oracle.
It makes my head hurt a little bit to think that everything after the slash in the Mime type of open web standard "text/javascript" is a trademark Oracle is actually trying to enforce