__/ On Sunday 28 August 2005 01:22, [AT] wrote : \__
> On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:04:15 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>>> ... but those aren't issues with the name "sounding feminine". They are
>>> issues with using software which isn't the market leader.
>>
>> Exactly, like a big budget movie with a story that goes nowhere versus a
>> modest film with plenty of essence. Which one attract more viewers?
>
> That's not the issue. Revenue doesn't equal quality, with films it
> matters, with OSS it doesn't. Producing a high quality film that bombs at
> the box office may put you out of business, producing high quality
> opensource software that doesn't sell (whatever that is in this context),
> means nothing apart from respect in the community.
Mozilla Firefox continues to develop quickly with an ever-increasing number
of programmers (have you seen how many extensions are released per day by
volunteers?) and very /able/ managers and leaders. If it weren't for their
success, they would not get many funds flowing (Google directory, DMOZ,
search bar - Google by default etc.). It is the community that helped
Firefox grow, but there is also a chicken-and-the-egg situation here. You
must proliferate your results and extend in order to produce more. How
dynamic are Netscape, for instance? I suspect that even GNOME are losing
their luster.
> Here are a couple of examples of (brand-)names - which may sound feminine
> in the Firefox or Thunderbird sense - companies chose and received
> funding. So some suits must have thought their names were in fact OK:
>
> Mercedes: It's a female name and quite a lot of serious people drive cars
> with this name (according to BBC's Top Gear, 98% of all governments have
> some)
>
> Apple: These people must have been crazy to choose a name like that. Will
> never be successful...
>
> Honeywell: Sweet isn't it...
>
> Novellus, Cisco, Zeneca, Nestle... How are these names any more
> "professional" than Firefox or Thunderbird?
Good point made.
> [...]
>> but to name worse examples: grip, biff and all the
>> misspelt names that start with a K(DE) instead of a C.
>
> Since when are programs like grip or biff supposed to be professional or
> rather to be used in a corporate environment for "professional" use? KDE
> is in fact a really bad example (did you notice that most KDE
> applications are identified by their function not by their name in KDE
> menus and tool tips: Personal Files, Web Browser etc.), especially
> considering that most (office worker type, non-IT) people don't even know
> the names of the programs they are using. They use a browser, a word
> processor or a mail client.
The argument could go either way, but some would argue that it's a good
thing. Yes, some would say little choice and narrow-mindedness helps. I am
even thinking of some professors that are fixed on MS... and one would have
thought that professor are more enlightened...
> I have seen too many people not recognizing
> that they are using Firefox, to still believe that names matter. They will
> recognize the missing feature that they loved so much in another software.
> Only then will they look for some names.
Which is why the names might play an important roll. Opera, IE.... or
something odd call Konqueror and spelt with a 'K'?!?!
Roy
|
|
