4 ms·

"Libre" is probably better understood in Europe to mean "free" in its intended "free as in speech" sense.

krschultz 16y ago
That is probably true in Europe, but it definitely fails in the US. What I don't see is why the name has to be so damn literal. Firefox was never named "Libre Interent Browser" Google was never "Better Search Engine That Doesn't Totally Suck" OpenOffice at least wasn't that clunky and got the point across. This is a name by hackers for hackers. Why is that a good idea for a project with the mainstream reach of Firefox? This is a cross platform office suite, it could be used by literally EVERY PERSON WHO USES A COMPUTER, the name is extremely important. It doesn't have to mention a damn thing about open source, free software, or anything in its name. Most people don't care about Firefox's development model - they just like using it. OpenOffice should be the same way.
- sprout 16y ago
  Yes, and who wants to use a game console that sounds like a man's genitals or a tablet computer that sounds like a menstruation guard. Names do not matter when you already have a product people want and need.
  - krschultz 16y ago
    I assume you mean the (Sony) PlayStation and the (Apple) iPad. What sticks out to you there? If you don't see the vast difference between the Sony or Apple brand and the Libre Office brand then you don't understand marketing. At this point Steve Jobs could make a toilet called the iShit and people would not care about the name, because they know and love the Apple brand. The product names matter extremely little for them, because people hear Apple (some bad product name), not (some unknown company) iPad. People are excited for the former and ridicule the later. Sony holds an equally good name with many. Both also have massive TV advertising budgets. There is no comparison to this situation. Explain why FOSS is often times better than the commercial counter point and is by definition cheaper, but still isn't gaining traction, what is the problem? I contend the problem is marketing. FOSS developers love to redicule/ignore marketing, advertising, and business people in general, but it is an important part of gaining mindshare. Sure their degree is easier to get, but that doesn't mean their job is easy to do right. Much like the bike shed, everyone has an opinion on marketing and advertising, that doesn't mean they have a good opinion on it. Saying that Apple and Sony are in anyway relevent to the naming of a relatively unknown product by a new group of people is like a marketing guy saying Cobol on Cogs is just like Ruby on Rails. We'd laugh at the marketing guy, but realize the marketing guys are laughing right back at the devs who suck at selling FOSS. We literally can't give away for free what they are charging money for. You know where fixing that problem starts? By respecting marketing and advertising. It is far more than "just a name". There is no such thing as "just a name" when your only method of spreading the word is by word of mouth
    - calloc 16y ago
      Actually, I think he was referring to the Wii ...
- sandGorgon 16y ago
  true - it is going to especially troublesome for non-native English speakers, who wont be able to pronounce the name. Especially in Asia - is it "lee-bree office" or "lie-bree office" ? Even worse is that you cant use the word in spoken conversation, and hope they will be able to spell it correctly enough for Google to work. They are gonna search for "libr office" - which returns Microsoft Office as the top hit. Which means I cant go and ask my friends to download it.
- juanefren 16y ago
  Even for Spanish speaking people it is a slow pronunciation word, Even OfficeLibre would be easier to pronounce.

That is probably true in Europe, but it definitely fails in the US. What I don't see is why the name has to be so damn literal. Firefox was never named "Libre Interent Browser" Google was never "Better Search Engine That Doesn't Totally Suck" OpenOffice at least wasn't that clunky and got the point across. This is a name by hackers for hackers. Why is that a good idea for a project with the mainstream reach of Firefox? This is a cross platform office suite, it could be used by literally EVERY PERSON WHO USES A COMPUTER, the name is extremely important. It doesn't have to mention a damn thing about open source, free software, or anything in its name. Most people don't care about Firefox's development model - they just like using it. OpenOffice should be the same way.

sprout 16y ago
Yes, and who wants to use a game console that sounds like a man's genitals or a tablet computer that sounds like a menstruation guard. Names do not matter when you already have a product people want and need.
- krschultz 16y ago
  I assume you mean the (Sony) PlayStation and the (Apple) iPad. What sticks out to you there? If you don't see the vast difference between the Sony or Apple brand and the Libre Office brand then you don't understand marketing. At this point Steve Jobs could make a toilet called the iShit and people would not care about the name, because they know and love the Apple brand. The product names matter extremely little for them, because people hear Apple (some bad product name), not (some unknown company) iPad. People are excited for the former and ridicule the later. Sony holds an equally good name with many. Both also have massive TV advertising budgets. There is no comparison to this situation. Explain why FOSS is often times better than the commercial counter point and is by definition cheaper, but still isn't gaining traction, what is the problem? I contend the problem is marketing. FOSS developers love to redicule/ignore marketing, advertising, and business people in general, but it is an important part of gaining mindshare. Sure their degree is easier to get, but that doesn't mean their job is easy to do right. Much like the bike shed, everyone has an opinion on marketing and advertising, that doesn't mean they have a good opinion on it. Saying that Apple and Sony are in anyway relevent to the naming of a relatively unknown product by a new group of people is like a marketing guy saying Cobol on Cogs is just like Ruby on Rails. We'd laugh at the marketing guy, but realize the marketing guys are laughing right back at the devs who suck at selling FOSS. We literally can't give away for free what they are charging money for. You know where fixing that problem starts? By respecting marketing and advertising. It is far more than "just a name". There is no such thing as "just a name" when your only method of spreading the word is by word of mouth
  - calloc 16y ago
    Actually, I think he was referring to the Wii ...
sandGorgon 16y ago
true - it is going to especially troublesome for non-native English speakers, who wont be able to pronounce the name. Especially in Asia - is it "lee-bree office" or "lie-bree office" ? Even worse is that you cant use the word in spoken conversation, and hope they will be able to spell it correctly enough for Google to work. They are gonna search for "libr office" - which returns Microsoft Office as the top hit. Which means I cant go and ask my friends to download it.
juanefren 16y ago
Even for Spanish speaking people it is a slow pronunciation word, Even OfficeLibre would be easier to pronounce.