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Whether it's a namespace collision or not, it's uncool of them to steal the name of Apache Spark, which was an influential project in machine learning, and must
by benatkin 2y ago
Whether it's a namespace collision or not, it's uncool of them to steal the name of Apache Spark, which was an influential project in machine learning, and must have helped generative AI get to where it is today.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- weikju 2y agoWouldn't be the first time Microsoft (And other big corporations, anyone remember Apple iOS vs Cisco IOS?) behaves this way [0] . I'm sure there are more examples out there. [0] https://itsfoss.com/microsoft-maui-kde-row/ https://itsfoss.com/microsoft-maui-kde-row/
- Mountain_Skies 2y agoAnother was Microware OS-9 getting stomped on by Mac OS 9 because the much bigger company had the right to whatever it wanted.
- simonw 2y agoI think "Brand X Spark" is OK. It's not exactly an uncommon word. - Adobe Spark https://express.adobe.com/page/dRGX7a5xjEnh5/ https://express.adobe.com/page/dRGX7a5xjEnh5/ - Meta Spark https://spark.meta.com/ https://spark.meta.com/ - Spark Mail https://sparkmailapp.com https://sparkmailapp.com - Spark New Zealand https://www.spark.co.nz https://www.spark.co.nz - Chevrolet Spark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Spark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Spark - DJI Spark https://www.dji.com/support/product/spark https://www.dji.com/support/product/spark - Spark Racing Technology https://www.sparkracingtechnology.com https://www.sparkracingtechnology.com - Capital One Spark https://www.capitalone.com/small-business/credit-cards/spark-cash/ https://www.capitalone.com/small-business/credit-cards/spark... - Spark Therapeutics https://sparktx.com https://sparktx.com - Spark Energy https://www.sparkenergy.com https://www.sparkenergy.com
- benatkin 2y agoNone of those is anywhere near the ballpark of similarity that Apache Spark is in.
- shepherdjerred 2y agoI think that's the point
- benatkin 2y ago"None of those" refers to everything in the bulleted list in the comment I replied to. The one that I think Apache Spark is similar to is GitHub Spark, because they're both developer tools, and AI adjacent.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- TheCapeGreek 2y agoSo Laravel Spark is also a problem?
- simonw 2y agoIt's not like both Apache and GitHub just called it "Spark". Apache Spark. GitHub Spark. Brand-name Spark. I think that's fine.
- benatkin 2y agoApache Spark casually gets called Spark, and it especially gets called Spark when referring to subprojects. For instance there's Spark Core, Spark Streaming, and PySpark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Spark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Spark BTW the trademark: https://spark.apache.org/trademarks.html https://spark.apache.org/trademarks.html
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- OutOfHere 2y agoGitHub Spark is not open source software, so there shouldn't be any confusion.
- troupo 2y agoThey could've called it GitHub Moist, or Github Fungus, or Github Bequeath. They didn't for a very simple reason: The vocabulary isn't infinite. And within that finite number there's an even smaller set of words you would use for a product. And within that there's an even smaller set of words that are a combination of some of all of pleasant/short/applicable/relevant. And Spark is a choice because the icon of choice for all things AI-related seems to be the sparkles emoji.
- guappa 2y agoI'll point out that "github" and "microsoft" were not on any dictionary prior to their current use.
- lostintangent 2y agoWe (the GitHub Next team) use and love Apache Spark. So we made sure to connect with ASF before releasing GitHub Spark, and confirm they were comfortable with us using this name. We felt like there was sufficient difference between the two products, that there wouldn’t be any confusion. Especially with the target audience that GitHub Spark ultimately intends to reach. That said, we plan to validate this during the Technical Preview phase. Since we absolutely want to be respectful of Apache Spark, and its impact on software.
- benatkin 2y agoThe GitHub Next team sounds more like a department than a team. It also sounded odd to hear that a group of that size uses and loves something that is unlikely to be used by a large percentage of the team directly. Yay corporate motivational speak! I can use another look at https://despair.com/collections/demotivators https://despair.com/collections/demotivators after this. When GitHub Next asked for this, there was already pressure in place for ASF to give that to them, because they're locked into GitHub, so it may not have been given entirely freely. You can say that you're confident it was, but to me it seems impossible to know for sure. I don't know if it was or not. It might be that they would have decided to give it freely but the thought of their relationship with GitHub came to mind while they were considering it. In any case, it's a big ask, because if this takes off, soon the phrase Spark Application that another commenter mentioned will be ambiguous.
- lostintangent 2y agoOut of curiosity: what size do you think constitutes a “team” vs. a “department”? GitHub Next is 18 people (inclusive of all roles), which seems appropriately-sized to be called a “team” (certainly in a large engineering company). But apologies if that came off as misleading.
- benatkin 2y agoWith more than 10, I tend to prefer the term department, though the term department could also be used for an organizational division with a smaller number of people. The way Cloudflare has Departments on their jobs page fits my mental model of it. One is Emerging Technology and Incubation which sounds similar to GitHub Next. https://www.cloudflare.com/careers/jobs/?department=Emerging+Technology+and+Incubation https://www.cloudflare.com/careers/jobs/?department=Emerging... On the GitHub jobs page, there isn't such a selection, but in autocomplete there are two results for team and none for department or group: https://www.github.careers/careers-home/jobs https://www.github.careers/careers-home/jobs