Re: [Marketing] Open Office/OpenOffice.org/OOo

[Adam Doxtater]

My two cents: Let them call it what they want... as long as they use it. 
That is after all the ultimate goal. As Daniel stated, it's cumbersome 
to say. In print it looks ok, but the .org tag can easily confuse 
newbies when speaking to them. They usually end up thinking you're 
referring to a website rather than a product... even though they're 
kinda one and the same. This type of argument is similar to the Linux vs 
GNU/Linux argument... there is no right answer because everyone is going 
to look at it in a different way. OOo is another example that gets the 
point across in print, but try saying it. No go. the .org does indeed 
make it happen, but there's no reason why we shouldn't let people call 
it what they want... as long as they use it and then spread it to 
others. What usually happens out of that is that it will end up being 
called by a common name by everyone. We see it happen all the time. 
Let's look at September 11th, 2001 as an example (may not be the best 
example but its the first to come to mind). When it happened, nobody 
really knew what to call it, but after time the term 9/11 was used to 
refer to it. We heard all sorts of names for it in the first few months, 
but soon everyone settled on 9/11. Sure, we dropped the 2001 from the 
end of it, but everyone knows what you mean when you say it.. and its 
easy to say. You see what I'm getting at?

No offense to your concern because it's valid to an extent, but I don't 
think any of us should be concerned with it at this time. If you want my 
prediction (and keep in mind I am on neither side of the fence on this 
argument) is that the .org will drop off eventually. Call me crazy, but 
I see it happening and I don't think it's something any one of us can 
stop. People are inherently lazy when it comes to speech and any chance 
to drop baggage from a phrase or term and they will.

Best,
Adam
Jacqueline McNally wrote:
Hello
I have been meaning to post for some time about people dropping the 
'.org" when writing or reporting about OpenOffice.org, and having read 
this today, I think now is a good time.

An acronym by any other name
[Rupert Goodwins, ZDNet UK, 07 February 2005 ]
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,39180154,00.htm
"Or take the well-meaning folks behind OpenOffice.org. That's easy 
enough to say but looks as ugly as a bullfrog in print: you can't call 
it Open Office because that's not its name, and attempts to render it 
as OOo resemble a hieroglyph for a grazing cow."

It is an opinion piece, however ...
I had partly drafted a template email to send to people who refer to 
us and our product as something other than OpenOffice.org. Most of the 
derivations are "Open Office" or "Openoffice".

We have the FAQ (http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-other.html#10 and 
http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-other.html#7), and I have unearthed 
Sam's message that succinctly describes our name 
http://whiteboard.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=marketing&msgId=238606 
 OpenOffice.org is both a PRODUCT and COMMUNITY.

The biggest problem I have with all this, is that writers and 
journalists are dropping/removing what I consider to be the most 
important part, that is, our community.

It is the ".org", us, that makes OpenOffice.org happen :)
All the best
Jacqueline McNally
Lead, OpenOffice.org Marketing Project
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