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			Yellow Pages Name Change

SunFLASH Vol 13 #6 					 January 1990 
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(I have not seen a formal announcement from Sun regarding the change
in name of Yellow Pages, but I have seen, as have many of our users,
the little stickers that state that the "Yellow Pages" trademark
belongs to BT. An announcement was made at the December SUG meeting
confirming the name change, so until you see a more formal
announcement, this sounds like a good story! - johnj)

>	OK, so now we've been reading the little stickers about 
>	changing the name of Yellow Pages because British Telecom
>	owns it for quite some time.
>	
>	Some natural questions result:
>	1) What will we call it?
>	2) When will the change be made?
>	3) What will be affected?
>	4) What group is responsible for affecting the change?
>	
>	Some less natural, and more nosy questions also result:
>	1) What brought about this change?  Did someone sue us?
>	2) Why didn't they complain sooner?
>	
>	Just wondering!
>	

British Telecom recently informed Sun of our infringement on their
trademark of "Yellow Pages".  To protect a trademark that they have
invested in quite heavily, BT asked Sun to find a new name and to cease
using "Yellow Pages" as soon as possible.  As an aside, AT&T at one
time did own the "Yellow Pages" trademark in the US, but because they
did not take the necessary steps to protect it, it is now considered
part of the common language (in the US only).

The replacement name for "Yellow Pages" and "YP" is "Network
Information Service" and "NIS", respectively.  All new software
products will use the new name and eventually older products will
either be revised to reflect the change or obsoleted as a result of the
natural evolution of products.  Due to the fact that references to
Yellow Pages are found in almost all Sun products and literature the
change will not take place over night.  For this reason a phased
approach has been implemented.

The first phase is to label all existing product with references to
Yellow Pages with the notice discussed in the email below.  The purpose
of the notice is to (1) Sun intends to comply with the request, (2) we
are making a good faith effort to resolve the problem in a timely
manner, (3) it credits BT as the owner of the "Yellow Pages" mark in
the UK, (4) notifies people of the impending name the name change.

The second phase is to replace any references to Yellow Pages with the
NIS in all Sun documentation, technical papers, literature, software
(message text only), etc.  (This is non-trivial.)  Please note a letter
is being sent to all Sun ISVs, OEMs, VARs, ONC/NFS Licensees, etc.
apprising them of the situation and the new name.

I think the major question on customers' mind is:  What are the
ramifications of this name change (i.e., will my software still work
the same)?  The answer to this question is emphatically YES!  The name
change is just that.  NIS is just an umbrella term for all the services
previously grouped under the Yellow Pages.  ALL command names, system
calls, variable names, include file parameters prefixed with "yp"
(e.g., ypmatch) will remain the same.


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Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Please address comments to John McLaughlin
(sun!sunvice!johnj or johnj@sunvice.sun.COM). (305) 776-7770.