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Apart from the legal bills, Lindows faced the prospect of losing valuable markets in countries, such as the Netherlands, where Microsoft had managed to gain injunctions preventing the company from using the name.

Lindows emphasises that despite the name change, it will be business as usual. The product will remain the same. OEMs and resellers currently selling LindowsOS products can continue to ship existing

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inventory until the stocks are exhausted. Lindows says that in 14 days the entire software line will transition to the Linspire brand, including Linspire Laptop Edition, Linspire Developer Edition and Spanish-language Linspire. The Lindows website will now be renamed www.linspire.com

'Despite our victories in the United States and overseas, a name change is still necessary to counter Microsoft's strategy to sue us in courts around the world.' said Lindows CEO Michael Robertson. 'We're hoping that this puts a halt on the international lawsuits. A Microsoft spokesperson has publicly stated that "We're only asking that Lindows change their name" which is what we have done.'

However, Lindows hasn't entirely run up the white flag. The company will continue its two year old legal battle with Microsoft in the US where the software giant is currently appealing against the earlier judgement against it. Lindows will remain the corporate name.