Re: Re: Reply To: Sodipodi / *nkscape...

Hello!

John Stracke kirjutas P, 29.02.2004 kell 17:20:
> > Names like Gimp, eog, Totem, and Anjuta are just as arbitrary as Sodipodi.
> 
> And, most likely, they all have suffered from lack of recognition.  The
> GIMP, for example, is successful now; but the odds are good it would
> have taken off a little faster with a descriptive name.
> 
> In the commercial world, there are lots of companies and products with
> nondescriptive names (Coke, Sears, The Gap); but there they have money
> to spend on advertising their name.  A better comparison for us would be
> small local companies without much money for advertising; those tend to
> use descriptive names, such as Springfield Auto Repair, so that people
> will know what they are without advertising.

On the other hand, I think 'Open Office', 'KOffice' and
'Gnome Office' are horrible branding, because for most
people 'Office' as program means MS one. So the alternatives,
although seemingly descriptive are not distinguishable -
people understand, what they will do, but do not identify
them by name as distinct.

The same problem may happen with smaller-scale programs too
- descriptive names are not easily recongnizable. Auto repair
shops are in better situation, because they are physically
distinct (and people are only interested in local ones
anyways).

Best wishes,
Lauris Kaplinski




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