SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008 linked server issue
I've had this problem before, and while I didn't find a fix (as it appears from the error message, SQL Server seems to 'lose' the brackets when it's processing the query), I did find a couple of workarounds:


Using OPENQUERY will allow you to use the linked server name as-is.
(My preferred solution): create a synonym for the linked server and use that in your query:

CREATE SYNONYM MyLinkedTable FOR [DBNAME.DATABASE.ORGANIZATION.COM].DBName.schema.TableName


Then use it in place of that huge mess:

SELECT * FROM MyLinkedTable