Mandrakesoft renamed Mandriva after buying Conectiva

French Linux distributor Mandrakesoft has changed its name to Mandriva.

The new name, a fusion of Mandrakesoft and Conectiva, reflects the importance of Brazilian Linux vendor Conectiva, acquired by Mandrakesoft in February for Euro 1.79 million (US$2.3 million), Mandriva said Thursday.

The name change also allows Mandriva to leave behind it a long-running trademark dispute in France with U.S. publisher Hearst Holdings, owner of the rights to the comic strip Mandrake le Magicien, the company said.

In 2003, MandrakeSoft was the fourth-largest player in the Linux market, after Red Hat, Novell, and Turbolinux, according to a 2004 report published by IDC. The market research company stopped breaking out results separately for Conectiva the previous year, when it ranked the company sixth, after Red Flag Software.

Mandriva's Web site can now be found at http://www.mandriva.com/.