On 03/10/10 08:21, Graham Lauder wrote: > On Sunday 03 Oct 2010 15:00:04 Antonio Olivares wrote: >> --- On Sat, 10/2/10, Ron House <[email protected]> wrote: >>> From: Ron House <[email protected]> >>> Subject: Re: [tdf-discuss] [GENERAL] New name >>> To: [email protected] >>> Date: Saturday, October 2, 2010, 6:35 PM >>> >>> On 02/10/10 23:41, Mirek M. wrote: >>>> Well, "Open Office" was usually the spoken term used >>> to refer to >>> >>>> OpenOffice.org, and I'd say that's much easier to >>> pronounce than >>> >>>> LibreOffice. And it flows much more nicely. >>>> "LibreOffice" is hard to pronounce the French way >>> because there are two >>> >>>> (written) vowels next to each other. That's one thing >>> the French language >>> >>>> tries to avoid, by having special forms for the few >>> adjectives that come >>> >>>> before nouns that start with a vowel, like "bel", >>> "vieil", and "nouvel". So >>> >>>> LibreOffice doesn't really fit in with French >>> pronunciation either... >>> >>>> But you don't need professionals to know if a name >>> sounds good. I'd say >>> >>>> "Firefox" and "Inkscape" are great names, but I'm sure >>> those projects didn't >>> >>>> spend millions of dollars on coming up with a name. >>> And just look at how the >>> >>>> name "Google" came about: it was made up by a daughter >>> of a mathematician. >>> >>>> I liked it, too, at first, but I'm afraid that >>> pronunciation will be an >>> >>>> issue... >>>> >>>> Anyway, if nobody else thinks it's an issue, then it >>> should stay. >>> >>> Hmm, I joined the list to find out about compiling the >>> source, but this discussion took my interest. Apologies for >>> butting in late. >>> >>> Names are a hard thing, but one lesson I have learned in 30 >>> years of software development is: for widespread acceptance >>> a good name matters much more than good content. (Sad but >>> true.) >>> >>> Examples: "Object-oriented programming" : All the ideas >>> were there in Simula 67 (yes, that's 1967), but until the >>> cool name, OOP, was invented, no one took any notice. Then >>> "Extreme programming", "Open Office", "relational database" >>> (just a cool name for the bad idea of busting up all the >>> objects and losing the natural hierarchies). I could think >>> of dozens if I spent another ten minutes at it. >>> >>> Another key lesson: Insiders are very, VERY bad at picking >>> good names for their own 'children'. >>> >>> This is not meant as an insult, but the key movers and >>> shakers here, to whom we all owe the very existence of this >>> wonderful project, are most likely the least able to judge a >>> good name. >>> >>> And "LibreOffice" is a very poor name. >>> >>> Reasons: >>> >>> 1/ "Libre" is an insider's term. Ask any but a romance >>> language speaker or a free software supporter what it means. >>> Seriously, ask your mum, your boss, your students, the guy >>> serving at the local deli. The name is doomed to >>> misunderstanding and obscurity. Geeks will give you lots of >>> good feedback and you'll judge you got it right, but you >>> haven't, and you need to actually try the little experiment >>> I just gave if you want to see why. >>> >>> 2/ As Mirek explains, the pronunciation breaks the rules, >>> and showing disrespect for the rules of the linguistic >>> source of a term doesn't seem like a sensitive or a >>> politically wise thing to do. >>> >>> 3/ Also as Mirek points out, the adjacent vowels make the >>> word hard to roll off the tongue by a speaker of any >>> language. (It occurs to me as I write this that (2) and (3) >>> could be fixed by calling it "OfficeLibre".) >>> >>> Thus my only disagreement with Mirek's comments: "If nobody >>> else thinks it's an issue..." - the people here (again, with >>> apologies) are all self-selected for their in-depth >>> knowledge of the field, love of the software, love of the >>> ideals, and understanding of the jargon. All of us (myself >>> included) are almost certain to have a useless opinion on >>> what would actually be a good name. >>> >>> So, this is just a recommendation, but one which I know is >>> worth doubling the support base: Get a better name. Even >>> something pedestrian like "Free Office" would do much >>> better. And of course, if someone could conjure up that rare >>> animal, the magic name, well who knows...? >>> >>> And PS: Don't worry about having already announced the >>> name: it was stated it was temporary and it's a name >>> destined for forgetability in any case. >>> >>> -- Ron Hous >> I also am sorry to butt in this conversation. But IMHO, the name does no >> t matter. It is the software, the freedom to work with it. This softw >> are has been created before a major catastrophe occurs, i.e, Oracle a big c >> ompany controls|controlled OpenOffice.org as soon as it bought Sun Microsys >> tems. Now they have killed OpenSolaris, their next target would have bee >> n, ..., yes OpenOffice. Before that occured, some kind people have decid >> ed to protect the software before that happens. >> >> LibreOffice, is an office suite that is "Libre", meaning free, not only fre >> e in speech but free in mostly every aspect like free and open source. I >> t is also "Libre", meaning free from control of a single company or a singl >> e person. It champions free software and will continue what OpenOffice.o >> rg started a while back. >> >> The name should not matter, what matters is that users of OpenSource/Free S >> oftware folks have an office suite that is not tied up to a single company >> or entity that will control the code. >> >> Regards, >> >> Antonio >> >> Happily using Free and Open Software for some time. >> Fedora 12/Fedora 13/Slackware 13.1/FreeBSD 8.1/... >> oliva...@darkstar:~$ uname -r >> 2.6.35.7-smp > > Antonio, > You in fact wear the best argument for a unique name in your sig. Who is > arguably the most successful Open Source company: Red Hat > > What in gods name does a Red Hat have to do with software other than give > them > a really cool logo. > > This discussion is indicative, much of marketing is about creating buzz. I > would like a name that leads to a logo that is sexy enough for people to use > as a desktop background, Redhat does and Fedora and Firefox. I was looking > at > the "LibO" abbreviation and the thing that I suddenly saw was LbD, or LBD > which is abrreviation for "Little Black Dress", suddenly I see a very cool > logo and marketing campaign and a buzz. One great thing is that LBD is cool > to both men and women, both groups tend to like the way they look. > > What has it to do with Office suites? About the same amount that Computer > Operating systems have to do with Hats. > > But dang what a buzz it would cause: An office suite that was sexy, now THAT > would be cool to market. > > Cheers > GL >
Well, the trusty old red caps didn't do any harm for Mark Ewing and friends... Regards Olav -- To unsubscribe, send an empty e-mail to [email protected] All messages you send to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted. List archives are available at http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/
