Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 5042
program name should be OpenOffice, not OpenOffice.org
Last modified: 2003-03-12 14:38:17 UTC
It is unheard of for a local application to be named with a top-level domain such as .org or .com. To do so makes the application sound like a web site rather than a computer program. Resistence to using the term "OpenOffice.org" can be seen in the absence of this term from all press articles on the product. (At least all of the articles i've ever seen.) It would be wise to change the name of the application to "OpenOffice", sans ".org". This will be much easier than trying to insist that everyone use the awkward, longer form, as some of the pages on this site try to do. It is also a bad idea to confuse users in this way. Furthermore, changing the name of the program would allow a natural way to distinguish the web site (OpenOffice.org) from the program to which it is dedicated (OpenOffice). Please consider the fact that other open source projects also make a distinction between product name and web site. For example, there is a browser called "Mozilla" and a web site called "Mozilla.org". I didn't know what component to file this issue under, but chose Marketing, because the awkward name does pose a marketing issue.
Leston, You are not stating a new opinion. This has already been discussed, ad nauseum, on the Discuss and Marketing lists, which is the proper place for proposals regarding name changes and similar ideas. We cannot, at the present time, change the name to OpenOffice. The international trademark "Open Office" is held by a Korean firm. While it would be possible to work around this, nobody has offered to put up the $50,000 in legal fees required to do so (and no, I'm not exaggerating ... international trademark work is *expensive*). If you have suggestions as to other names we could use, please start a discussion on Dicuss or Marketing. At this point, only a consensus of users and developers ... built by you ... is going to change the name. Please do not attempt to re-open this IZ. In the meantime, us folks have built up some brand awareness on the Marketing list, turning necessity into points ... by explaining to people that the ".org" signifies that OpenOffice.org is a community product, rather than a commercial software package. It's been working for us ... 3/4 million downloads so far. -Josh Berkus OpenOffice.org Marketing
As mentioned on the qa dev list on March 5th I will close all resolved <wontfix/duplicate/worksforme/invalid> issues. Please see this posting for details. First step in IssueZilla is unfortunately to set them to verified.
As mentioned on the qa dev list on March 5th I will close all resolved <wontfix/duplicate/worksforme/invalid> issues. Please see this posting for details.