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Comment by eogas | Hacker News Reader

>Status: Unfortunate

That's cold, Google.

When I saw that I didn't see it as cold, but as cool. You can't expect to block anyone from using a name they like just because you would like to use it for your hobby project. While I understand the Go! language designer having a go at it, the issue was soon reduced to whiners whining about a complete non-issue. Had Google tried to block the Go! designer from continuing to use his name, they would have been evil, but as things are, they are not evil at all.

When you submit to conferences / journals and write a book, it ceases to be a "hobby project".

Unsure on this. Submission vs Reception debate? Submitting papers and publishing books is attempting to initiate the move from hobby to research topic or accepted language but it doesn't look like it moved much past that. Virtually anyone can take these actions if they are motivated enough.

Tracking the history on this is a bit slippery because "go" is such a genric term. To qualify this it is a case of finding out what peer review or engagement was undertaken and how far the idea of Go! (as in the non-google one) made it, or if further languages or research were progressed on the back of it.

> Submitting papers and publishing books is attempting to initiate the move from hobby to research topic or accepted language but it doesn't look like it moved much past that.

As someone who dabbed into multi-agent programming back in early 2000s, I can assure you there are lots of obscure languages and projects in the area. Just like in any other CS field.

Adoption is irrelevant, it is still nice to refer to someone's work by name as a part of scientific discourse.

Definitely! I published bits here and there as an undergrad on some more obscure analytical chemistry stuff, and it was a brilliant feeling to contribute. Just in this context, it doesn't appear that it would have been notable enough for google to pick up on before they ran with the name.

I don't think I'm arguing much pro or con wise on the topic itself, just siding off into the topic of publication vs wider adoption in the target community. My case was the same, I'm sure my work was interesting and important, but it didn't exactly set the journals on fire. =)

And I thought "WONTFIX" was harsh.

I would have just used WORKSFORME.

If you've ever managed an open-source project and have to deal with tens or hundreds of requests for features or changes to the API specific to a single use-case (usually that the requestor needs for a client but doesn't want to implement themselves) you'd understand why sometimes "WONTFIX" is the only suitable reply.

I guess google is too big to care about it's "never be evil" motto.

Naming a free programming language after a common word is "evil"?

Wait until someone tells you about the holocaust...

Godwin FTW

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