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I was struck by something reading this article: almost none of the applications have names that express their function. If you haven't used it, what does Thuna

I was struck by something reading this article: almost none of the applications have names that express their function. If you haven't used it, what does Thunar do? Parole? GIMP? Gigolo, Garcon, or Ristretto? I don't see what's wrong with a name that has something to say about what your program does.

Soft 8y ago
I think it is useful for projects to have a searchable unique names. Also, I think the desktop files for those programs also include a generic name describing program's function that an application launcher can decide to show instead. For example, my KDE application menu refers to applications using these generic description ("Web Browser" instead of Firefox, "Music Player" instead of Spotify).
- II2II 8y ago
  Agreed on the ability to search for programs, add to that the difficulty in creating a meaningful name that won't confuse at least some users and doesn't step on trademarks or other project names. Even popular software titles have naming issues, with brand recognition being the main distinguishing factor that helps people figure out what the software does: - Excel, says absolutely nothing about what the product does. - PowerPoint is only tangentially related to what the product does. - Internet Explorer vs. Windows Explorer confuses many users. To avoid singling out just Microsoft, look at Apple: - Numbers basically depends upon people associating spreadsheets with any form of quantitative analysis. - Keynote is only tangentially related to what the product does. - Safari says absolutely nothing about what the program does. Contrast that to the brilliantly named GIMP: GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is clearly a program for enhancing photographs of gnu's! Okay, maybe it's not so brilliant. Yet it does demonstrate that naming is hard even when the name states what the program is.
bluedino 8y ago
You're not alone. My boss was trying to research some Python stuff. Bottle, Celery..."who came up with these terms!"
irq-1 8y ago
Xubuntu lists the apps by name then function. For example "Thunar File Manager" and "Parole Media Player".
Crinus 8y ago
Descriptive names are taken.
ac29 8y ago
If you havent used it, what does Google do? Facebook? Uber? Not trying to be snarky, but its good to have a unique, memorable name. Personally, GNOME just calling their text editor "Text Editor" is annoying, since I have more than one text editor installed.
acct1771 8y ago
"File Explorer (Thunar)" has been the best name formatting I've seen in a default Linux desktop.

Soft 8y ago

I think it is useful for projects to have a searchable unique names. Also, I think the desktop files for those programs also include a generic name describing program's function that an application launcher can decide to show instead. For example, my KDE application menu refers to applications using these generic description ("Web Browser" instead of Firefox, "Music Player" instead of Spotify).

II2II 8y ago
Agreed on the ability to search for programs, add to that the difficulty in creating a meaningful name that won't confuse at least some users and doesn't step on trademarks or other project names. Even popular software titles have naming issues, with brand recognition being the main distinguishing factor that helps people figure out what the software does: - Excel, says absolutely nothing about what the product does. - PowerPoint is only tangentially related to what the product does. - Internet Explorer vs. Windows Explorer confuses many users. To avoid singling out just Microsoft, look at Apple: - Numbers basically depends upon people associating spreadsheets with any form of quantitative analysis. - Keynote is only tangentially related to what the product does. - Safari says absolutely nothing about what the program does. Contrast that to the brilliantly named GIMP: GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is clearly a program for enhancing photographs of gnu's! Okay, maybe it's not so brilliant. Yet it does demonstrate that naming is hard even when the name states what the program is.

bluedino 8y ago

You're not alone. My boss was trying to research some Python stuff. Bottle, Celery..."who came up with these terms!"

irq-1 8y ago

Xubuntu lists the apps by name then function. For example "Thunar File Manager" and "Parole Media Player".

Crinus 8y ago

Descriptive names are taken.

ac29 8y ago

If you havent used it, what does Google do? Facebook? Uber? Not trying to be snarky, but its good to have a unique, memorable name. Personally, GNOME just calling their text editor "Text Editor" is annoying, since I have more than one text editor installed.

acct1771 8y ago

"File Explorer (Thunar)" has been the best name formatting I've seen in a default Linux desktop.