Back in 2001, a tiny startup launched an operating system called Lindows. It was a genuinely ambitious idea: take Linux, add on a compatibility layer for Windows apps, and then sell the resulting OS for cheaper than Windows itself. The name was both a pitch and perhaps the seed of its eventual downfall. Microsoft noticed immediately, and started a two-and-a-half-year legal battle that threatened to unravel one of Microsoft’s most valuable trademarks altogether.
