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Not directly related to Samsung, just thought some people would want to know!
Source:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/dell-files-to-strip-netbook-of-trademark-status/
Quote:Well, you knew this was going to happen: Dell’s filed a petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office requesting that Psion’s “netbook” trademark be canceled. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened, of course — the word “netbook” is in such widespread usage that Psion’s nastygrams are unlikely to have any meaningful impact, and the company’s weasely claims that it was only going after those “making a direct financial profit” basically guaranteed it was chasing after one of the big players. Word to the wise, Psion: it’s almost certain that you’ll lose this legal battle, but the PR war is easily won — and coupled with an interesting product, like, say, an all-new Ion-powered Psion Netbook, you could actually come out way ahead. Think about it, won’t you?Happy days 🙁
I loved my Psion Series II, 3, 3a, and 5. I even wrote (almost touch typing) some of my MBA assignments on a Series 3a on holiday in Marbella :((
I found my 3a in the attic the other day, popped in a couple of AA’s and it was just like old times. Considering how often I dropped it, or it fell out my pocket, it even went down a flight of stairs once. It never failed to stop working.
I know and it really was instantaneous startup on a Psion and weeks (or even months) of battery life.
[quote1235135935=TCMuffin]
I know and it really was instantaneous startup on a Psion and weeks (or even months) of battery life.
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My Psion Revo used to take a while to start up, though all my PDA’s used to.
Once started up though suspending/waking was nearly instantaneous.With the Series 3, Psion demonstrated that you could be productive, portable and have long battery life without a bloated operating system or gigabytes of memory. It was a piece of cake to use. EPOC (the operating system on the Series 3 that later became Symbian OS that is used on lots of mobile phones was a 32 bit genuinely multitasking object oriented OS that was years ahead of Microsoft’s offerings of the time.
I think it a great shame that Psion no longer make these machines, but if they did I reckon that they would have built something like the little eee pc but without a recognisable “windows / intel” architecture. And it would be instant-on, of course, and lightening fast. Bit of a shame, really.
Back on topic, I think that “Netbook” is and should remain Psion’s copyright. Just because it is in common parlance does not mean other companies can use it for their own ends. For example, most people call upright vacuum cleaners “hoovers” – but manufacturers like Dyson or Panasonic do not attempt to use the word in their advertising. So why Dell should want to do this is beyond me, let alone how they (or anyone else) can legally define what a “netbook” is, anyway!
I think The Register have it right – they call this class of device “SCCs” – Small Cheap Computers. The manufacturers seem to have lost sight of this, if they are prepared to charge as much money for a “netbook” that you’d pay for a full-sized laptop for something that is smaller, slower, and shorter on features.
Phew – rant over… sorry 😉
Anyone seen this yet?
http://www.savethenetbooks.com/I can’t say Im that bothered either way. The only thing that concerns me is whether the name of this site still makes sense and I don’t get sued for using it! They never emailed me so hope it’s OK!
BMW tried to strong arm Classic Mini garages to stop using the MINI name (although they actually used it gramatically correctly as Mini). BMW seemed to think they owned the word…. might explain what happened to mini Jaffa cakes!? haha.
Anyhoo, i’m currently spiraling further and further off topic, so I’ll zip it now.
I’m glad some of the big boys are prepared to fight it out and get it sorted once and for all. Then us smaller fish can adopt a new name or not and move on.
I liked my Psion 3s, but had two that both stopped working after 2-3 years.
I went to a Palm after that and that’s still going strong.
Cheers.
That’s not such a bad alternative. I also think the old “notebook” could quite happily accommodate this class. Especially as cost and functionality starts to blur.
Indeed, I think as functionality and cost starts to blur, the only distinction people want is the size differences, that’s about it. Of course the biggest breakthrough is the fact that you don’t have to pay 1500$ for an ultra-light, ultramobile PC, in addition to others benefits.
I think “mini-notebook” serves the purpose the best. It makes a clear distinction of what you’re getting, and there’s no confusion. The term “netbook” was fine with the old, slow celeron M’s that couldn’t run any programs, but since the atom released, the term netbook has become antiquated. The next generation of low-voltage atom successor will nullify the word.
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