Alex Fisher wrote: > When you say "OpenOffice.org" to someone, their reaction is... Well, many of > you have mentioned the confusion some seem to manifest, but have you not > noticed that *using* the ".org" *causes people to ask questions*.
Asking questions is not inherently a good thing: Daniel: Hey, check out this really cool program called GIMP. Friend: GIMP? That's stupid. Daniel: No no, it's really cool. It's the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Friend: What's GNU? Daniel: GNU's Not Unix Friend: What the hell's Unix? ! Daniel: It doesn't matter! Download this program, it's great. Friend: Where do I get it? Daniel: www.gimp.org Friend: Whatever... Daniel: Hey! Where are you going?! Using an akward name that's hard for many people to even say out loud is very bad for marketing. And the fact that it causes people to ask questions is not inherently good. Calling it "StupidOffice" would make people ask questions too. > but when talking to people who as yet know nothing about it, then keep > the ".org" Promouncing "OpenOffice.org" is very cumbersome for me. It might not be for your friend, but for many people it is. Furthermore, it hurts branding to use a name that encourages people to call the product by a different name. Another note on the questions thing. When you put up an advertisement you don't have much opportunity to ask questions. Not *all* our marketing is by word of mouth, and even when it is, we don't always have a big lump of time to explain why we picked such an akward name. And the time I *do* have I'd rather spend explaining why it's good and why the listener may be interested in trying it. And it is counter productive to expect every single listener to be primarily motivated by the org part. Cheers, -- Daniel Carrera | I don't want it perfect, Join OOoAuthors today! | I want it Tuesday. http://oooauthors.org | --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
