Friday, February 18, 2005, 02:00 pm

Apple to rename Rendezvous technology \"Bonjour\"

By Kasper Jade

Exclusive -- Apple Computer in the coming months will change the name of its Rendezvous networking technology to "Bonjour," according to company documents shown to AppleInsider.

Last year, Tibco Software of Palo Alto, Calif., entered into a trademark dispute with Apple over its use of the Rendezvous name, alleging that the Apple technology, used in products such as Mac OS X and the iTunes Music Store, infringed on its exclusive rights to the Rendezvous name.

In July 2004, AppleInsider reported that the two companies agreed to end the dispute through a mutual out of court settlement. Sources close to the negotiations said that, as part of the deal, Apple agreed to phase out its use of the "Rendezvous" name in time.

Apple's Rendezvous technology, also known in the industry as Zero Configuration networking, enables automatic discovery of computers, devices, and services on IP networks. It uses industry standard IP protocols to allow devices to automatically find each other without the need to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers.

Following its settlement with Tibco, insiders said Apple proposed that the technology be renamed "OpenTalk" in future versions of the Mac OS X, and actually filed for the applicable trademark. However, "OpenTalk" was a little too "techie" sources said.

"Naturally, when Rendezvous-enabled computers and devices come within range of each other, they say 'hello,' and hence the name 'Bonjour' was later deemed more appropriate," one insider said.

Checks from inside Apple also confirm the name change to Bonjour. According to extremely well-placed sources, the latest internal builds of Apple's next-generation Tiger operating system have shed all mention of the Rendezvous name in favor of Bonjour. Builds of Tiger are fast approaching the 8A39x milestone, and subsequently an official release within the next few months, sources said.

As reported by AppleInsider earlier this month, Apple filed for a trademark on the name "Bonjour" on January 28th. In the filing, the company describes Bonjour as "computer software for the automatic configuration of computer networks, computer programs, computer peripherals and other electronic devices."