That is why some distributors market OpenOffice.org by other names, such as CompareOffice. It is more palatable to consumers.
Even though I distribute OpenOffice.org with its full name I never liked the .org extension and always thought it was goofy. I also believe this is one reason why it is not taken as seriously with some segments of the public as commercial products are. >From a marketing standpoint, it's all in a name. The problem with some Open Source products is that they are named by the programmers and geek types that created them, not by marketing professionals. I am considered a geek myself, but I also have experience in the field of advertising and promotion. Technically oriented professionals are great at the mechanics of the product but are not necessarily business or marketing people. They choose the names based on logic and their own familiarity with the environment in which the product is developed without consideration for the average layman who is not part of that environment and therefore is not familiar or aware of the terminology or significance of the symbols, acronyms or names that represent the product they are using. For instance. OpenOffice.org 1.1.4. What do those numbers mean? We know. But ask the average person on the street and chances are he or she hasn't a clue. They would assume the first one is a version number, but the dot this dot that has no meaning to them and can actually become confusing. Ask most of them what .org represents. You may get a blank stare. Do you realize how many people do not associate the .com or .gov or .org extensions to a specific type of web site? Many of them are unaware that any other extensions besides .com even exist or that they have any meaning at all. So adding .org to OpenOffice will not necessarily symbolize anything. It will make the name that much longer and more difficult to remember. Choosing a name for a product is critical to its success in the real world. A general rule is to keep it short and concise. Make it easy to say and easy to read. Most of all, make it catchy and easy to remember. OpenOffice is cool and catchy. It is easy to remember. It is also to the point. It's an Open Office Suite. Even if the public does not know what "Open" means it still works because it "sounds" warm and friendly. OpenOffice.org sounds too much like "geek speak" and that can turn a lot of people off. I am surprised that this has not been considered from version 1.0. Of course, at that time the aim was apparently limited to just getting it out there. But times have changed. The software landscape is leveling somewhat. People are finally fed up with the skyrocketing costs and restrictions of commercial licensing and are now actively looking for alternatives. The opportunities are there. But the Open Source community needs to take advantage of it before their competition gets wise and develops a strategy to close them. The product has a new version, a new look and a chance, for the first time, to actually take the big boys head on. Perhaps it is time for a name change as well. Rick Savoia Savoia Computer www.savoiacomputer.com -----Original Message----- From: Steven Shelton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Marketing] The "org" extension to OpenOffice.org Daniel Carrera wrote: > Nah, I don't like the .org at all. And I don't think it conveys "open > souce" in the slightest. You don't hear people say "Linux.org" or > "Firefox.org". There is no connection between a .org extension and an > open source project. The only other project I can think of that has a > .org is the name is X.org, and it's not the type of project that you > try to sell to the uneducated masses. I think that word "open" is more > likely to convey the concept of open source. > > If we had a vote for a name change, I'd vote in favour of dropping the > .org I agree with this, and mentioned it a long time ago. I think the ".org" is awkward, and you'll note that it's frequently dropped by people not associated with the project when they discuss it. Heck, it gets dropped by people who ARE associated with the project from time to time. Nevertheless, I'm not 100% sure I'd vote to change the name at this point just because it's already established. (Not that a vote is actually imminent, or even a possibility.) I hate name changes. The Mozilla project has driven me mad with the way they seem to change the name of their product every other month. -- Steven Shelton Twilight Media & Design www.TwilightMD.com www.GLOAMING.us -=-=-=-=-=- witlag, n.: the delay between delivery and comprehension of a joke. -=-=-=-=-=- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
