Bonjour is a support platform created by Apple for its customers. The support page helps with troubleshooting, setup and how-to information for new users.
Bonjour is also the name of Apple’s implementation of zero-configuration networking – a group of technologies that include service discovery, address assignment and hostname resolution.
The software comes built-in with Apple’s OS X and iOS operating systems.
Bonjour allows users to search for and discover services on a local network area. For instance, applications such as iTunes, Adobe, Skype and Safari can be found through Bonjour. Moreover printers and file-sharing servers can also be located.
What were the legal difficulties that forced a name change?
The software is under the terms-of-limited use license by Apple, so while it is freeware for clients, developers and software companies that use the Bonjour logo, or choose to redistribute the technology as part of a software package, may need a licensing agreement.
Bonjour was initially introduced in 2002 under the name Rendezvous in the Mac OS X 10.2 release. However, in 2003, Tibco Software filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement as it had a product called TIBCO Rendezvous on the market since 1994. In 2004 Apple and Tibco reached an out-of-court settlement and in 2005 Apple renamed the software to Bonjour.
