4 ms·

I think it's a perfect name.

by lsh 9y ago

appleflaxen 9y ago
how come? i think it could be better because 1. it's kind of long 2. it's sterile, devoid of emotion, and hard to link emotion to via marketing or branding 3. it's too technical - the common phone OS consumer doesn't know what postmarket means, and don't know what an OS is 4. it works against itself if it becomes wildly successful, and OEMs want to put it on the phone at the time of sale... at that point it's just "MarketOS"? None of these are a huge deal, or detract from the overall value of the project (it's awesome!); but I can't see an argument for keeping it. what makes it perfect, in your eyes? And i'm not a brand expert; i would love to see points by someone who knows a lot more about marketing and branding.
- lsh 9y ago
  > 1. it's kind of long "Cyanogenmod" comes to mind. But it doesn't matter. This is an OS for old hardware. New and sexy get marketable names. > 2. it's sterile, devoid of emotion, and hard to link emotion to via marketing or branding Says you, but it doesn't matter because this is an OS for old hardware. It isn't a sexy product for sexy new phones. No sex here whatsoever! > 3. it's too technical - the common phone OS consumer doesn't know what postmarket means, and don't know what an OS is really?? ... anyway, I think I see your problem now. You're thinking of this as an alternative OS for new phones. > 4. it works against itself if it becomes wildly successful, and OEMs want to put it on the phone at the time of sale... at that point it's just "MarketOS"? hell, lets just call it "mOS". Moss will get all the OEMs to it's yard, right? Anyway, /end-snark Marketing and branding are ugly concerns for shallow and aggressive people. Turn away now before you do become an expert. Actual problems need solving, like hundreds of obsolete and unsupported phone brands and billions of physical devices.
- ollieparanoid 9y ago
  Obviously we will name it postpostmarketOS then ;)
- 482794793792894 9y ago
  I also find the name good as it is. When I first heard of it, I read up on it only because it had that weird name. If the name was yet another generic OS name, I would have just scrolled on, thinking that it's just yet another OS. I agree that it's not that well-suited for outside of the geek community, but I doubt we're anywhere close to that. If it gets picked up by a manufacturer, they'll just as well market it to geeks. You're not getting around that, unless Android and iOS disappear from the face of the planet.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  I don't think it's "perfect", but I think it's named better than most projects are. 1. There's a shorthand "pmOS". "postmarketOS" is at least easy to Google (PMOS has too many meanings). 2. It's descriptive and tells me more about what it is than most names do. Maybe they could rebrand for wider appeal later. 3. The common phone consumer wouldn't pay more attention if it had a flashier name, either. They'll buy a phone based on rumor and what their friends have, and they certainly aren't going to look at replacing the OS with something new. 4. I imagine that the company might fork the repo and rename it whatever they want, in that case. "Mobilios\", then a tiny text at the bottom "powered by postmarketOS". I'm not a branding expert either, but I know that it pisses me off when there are 3 layers of branding and marketing before I can get to what the product actually is*.
- Fnoord 9y ago
  The name is good to attract developers, to gain traction, which is the current goal. Any users are a bonus (beta testers), and with a name like this you may gain the type of user who's OK with tinkering. As someone who ran Maemo (and its successors in past) I am happy to see my old N900 would gain new life. However, running Linux terminal apps on a phone isn't very useful. They need to be ported to get gesture support etc as normal applications are made for hardware keyboard and hardware mouse as HIDs. Phones lack these (tho N900 does have a hardware keyboard, the other input device is resistive screen + stylus or finger).
newscracker 9y ago
I hadn't really heard about this before, and when I skimmed the HN front page, I read the name as "postmarkOS", only to realize on opening the post that it's "postmarketOS". IMO, the name is too long and isn't catchy or understandable. As an observer on the Internet, I'll stop with these opinions. I don't have any suggestions for what it could be.

I think it's a perfect name.

by lsh 9y ago

I think it's a perfect name.

how come? i think it could be better because 1. it's kind of long 2. it's sterile, devoid of emotion, and hard to link emotion to via marketing or branding 3. it's too technical - the common phone OS consumer doesn't know what postmarket means, and don't know what an OS is 4. it works against itself if it becomes wildly successful, and OEMs want to put it on the phone at the time of sale... at that point it's just "MarketOS"? None of these are a huge deal, or detract from the overall value of the project (it's awesome!); but I can't see an argument for keeping it. what makes it perfect, in your eyes? And i'm not a brand expert; i would love to see points by someone who knows a lot more about marketing and branding.

lsh 9y ago
> 1. it's kind of long "Cyanogenmod" comes to mind. But it doesn't matter. This is an OS for old hardware. New and sexy get marketable names. > 2. it's sterile, devoid of emotion, and hard to link emotion to via marketing or branding Says you, but it doesn't matter because this is an OS for old hardware. It isn't a sexy product for sexy new phones. No sex here whatsoever! > 3. it's too technical - the common phone OS consumer doesn't know what postmarket means, and don't know what an OS is really?? ... anyway, I think I see your problem now. You're thinking of this as an alternative OS for new phones. > 4. it works against itself if it becomes wildly successful, and OEMs want to put it on the phone at the time of sale... at that point it's just "MarketOS"? hell, lets just call it "mOS". Moss will get all the OEMs to it's yard, right? Anyway, /end-snark Marketing and branding are ugly concerns for shallow and aggressive people. Turn away now before you do become an expert. Actual problems need solving, like hundreds of obsolete and unsupported phone brands and billions of physical devices.
ollieparanoid 9y ago
Obviously we will name it postpostmarketOS then ;)
482794793792894 9y ago
I also find the name good as it is. When I first heard of it, I read up on it only because it had that weird name. If the name was yet another generic OS name, I would have just scrolled on, thinking that it's just yet another OS. I agree that it's not that well-suited for outside of the geek community, but I doubt we're anywhere close to that. If it gets picked up by a manufacturer, they'll just as well market it to geeks. You're not getting around that, unless Android and iOS disappear from the face of the planet.
khedoros1 9y ago
I don't think it's "perfect", but I think it's named better than most projects are. 1. There's a shorthand "pmOS". "postmarketOS" is at least easy to Google (PMOS has too many meanings). 2. It's descriptive and tells me more about what it is than most names do. Maybe they could rebrand for wider appeal later. 3. The common phone consumer wouldn't pay more attention if it had a flashier name, either. They'll buy a phone based on rumor and what their friends have, and they certainly aren't going to look at replacing the OS with something new. 4. I imagine that the company might fork the repo and rename it whatever they want, in that case. "Mobilios\", then a tiny text at the bottom "powered by postmarketOS". I'm not a branding expert either, but I know that it pisses me off when there are 3 layers of branding and marketing before I can get to what the product actually is*.
Fnoord 9y ago
The name is good to attract developers, to gain traction, which is the current goal. Any users are a bonus (beta testers), and with a name like this you may gain the type of user who's OK with tinkering. As someone who ran Maemo (and its successors in past) I am happy to see my old N900 would gain new life. However, running Linux terminal apps on a phone isn't very useful. They need to be ported to get gesture support etc as normal applications are made for hardware keyboard and hardware mouse as HIDs. Phones lack these (tho N900 does have a hardware keyboard, the other input device is resistive screen + stylus or finger).

newscracker 9y ago

I hadn't really heard about this before, and when I skimmed the HN front page, I read the name as "postmarkOS", only to realize on opening the post that it's "postmarketOS". IMO, the name is too long and isn't catchy or understandable. As an observer on the Internet, I'll stop with these opinions. I don't have any suggestions for what it could be.