[Live-demo] Name Change

[Jody Garnett]

I don't think anyone can spell aramaggog the same way twice let alone pronoune it - so we really do need a better name if we are building a brand.
With respect to names ... I don't think we need "OSGeo" in the name (it is a acronym  which would only need to be explained).  

My suggestion is "Open Source Spatial" we can have a subtile "Live DVD contents provided by OSGeo Foundation". 

By not mentioning DVD we are not tiring down our brand to a concept which is already going away (I ran a Live DVD course at foss4g this year and 10% of the class did not have DVD drives).

For version number the time based system would be perfect; especially if we are rolling out the image as a starting point for conference organisers.

So although I do not think a yearly brand is a good idea (it would confuse the developer teams we are contacting) there is a related idea came up in the OSGeo marketing meeting this week...

There is an inherent risk in involved in estimating the number of DVD that need to be produced for the the conference schedule each quarter and going about placing the DVD with any conference materials. I floated the idea (possibly a bad idea) of setting up the Live DVD project as a base ISO image which organisers could add their conference material to and press out the DVD for the number of delegates they expect to attend.  The thinking is that conference organisers and not OSGeo would be taking on the risk of printing; they are also in a much better position to estimate the number of attendees (and are probably putting out their own DVD anyways).

This scenario would change the nature/branding of the project somewhat - but it would really emphasis the promotion of open source spatial.

Thanks for starting the discussion, we do need to tread a little softly for Cameron who has his own sponsors to answer to. Don't worry too much about setting up a new brand in terms of discussion - it was the major thing we were worried about when setting up OSGeo - and when it came down to it agreement was reached quickly once the suggestions were on the table.

Jody

On 16/01/2010, at 4:30 AM, Alex Mandel wrote:

> I'd like to discuss the name briefly. I realize Cameron is on vacation
> and probably won't respond for a week, but I don't think that should
> hold back at least a discussion. Hopefully we can make a decision by the
> Feature Freeze date.
> 
> Based on previous conversations I'd like to suggest that we move to
> calling the disc/project:
> OSGeo-LiveGIS or OSGeo-LiveGeospatial
> I think this is fairly important as we need to properly attribute that
> OSGeo/FOSS4G is a main driver of this effort and provides infrastructure
> for the production(We've been discussing a whole other plan for how to
> properly give credit to sponsors and contributors) I realize it's hard
> to come up with a name that adequately describes that we have DVD,VM and
> USB based distribution methods, but to me those are distribution methods
> and we're not focusing on any one so it seems good to just leave that out.
> 
> An acceptable alternative would be to come up with a new brand, to
> permanently fly under, but this might be very hard to come to agreement
> on considering the wide variety of contributors. If we decided to build
> a new brand name I think we would also want to move towards becoming a
> real project with a PSC, dedicated website, etc.
> 
> Version Naming:
> Each version(or maybe each year) getting it's own mascot/personalized
> name as given by the conference organizers of Foss4G. So Last year's was
> Arramagong, and that could carry until the next Foss4G, or the mid
> year(between conferences) could just not have one?
> 
> Version Numbering, I see several options
> By year with counter 2010.1 or 1.2010
> By year and month 2010.3
> By counter 3.0
> I actually like the 1st 2 because it's more clear when the disc was made
> and that gives you some idea of what version of software you'll find on
> them and how recent the build was, a straight counter while letting you
> know how many have been built is going to increment quite quickly and to
> mean doesn't really convey much to the end user, it means much more to
> the developers.
> 
> I welcome your thoughts,
> Alex
> _______________________________________________
> Live-demo mailing list
> Live-demo at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/live-demo