Summary of my arguments _pro_ name change

[Max Howell]

Gábor Lehel wrote:
>> 2) It was a funny idea when Amarok was young, but nowadays it just seems
>> quirky.
> 
> That's not a bad thing.

Well, we disagree. I think it makes normal people take our project less 
seriously. The stick us in the GNU/Linux debate crowd if we correct 
their spelling. Or they just think, wow OSS hippies, why don't they name 
it properly. It is typical OSS eccentricity to name a product in a 
quirky way.

>> 3) The name is unusual enough not to require additional attention from special
>> capitalization.
> 
> Sure, but it doesn't hurt, either.

As said above it does hurt IMO

>> 4) Amarok is intended to be a software for all desktops, not just KDE. The
>> capital K suggests that it's a KDE only application.
> 
> Meh. The people who the capital K would make a difference for would
> uninstall it immediately after they see it uses Qt, anyways. Let's not
> cater to idiots.

Being associated with a group has a large affect on what people think of 
you before they even have a chance to try the app out. KDE association 
makes people conclude we are bloated and too configurable nor usable 
before they even see a screenshot. On the other hand there are plus 
points we would lose. But it isn't sensible to claim that only hardcore 
GNOME people would be affected by the capital 'K'. However I don't 
personally think this is too important - but it all adds up.

>> 6) The Amarok logo does in no way reflect the current spelling. If anything,
>> it looks like "amarOk".
> 
> Then fix the logo :).

I assume you joke, but like the Nike tick symbol, and the golden arches, 
  it would be a marketing mistake on a grand scale to mess with our 
established logo!

>> 7) The various misspellings hurt name branding. There should be one brand
>> "Amarok", and misspelling weakens our brand.
> 
> Making our brand less distinctive also weakens our brand.

Yes, but I don't think the spelling contributes to our brand nearly as 
much as the logo, icon, UI look and exclusive feature set. While if 
people can't agree on how to spell it, we lose more 'brand'.

> For me, it's like this:
> 
> - amaroK is cooler than Amarok
> - people misspell amaroK as Amarok
> -- that sucks, because it looks less cool
> - if we correct people to have it spelt correctly, cool is gained
> - if we do nothing, cool is maintained, or at worst gradually diminished
> - if we officialize the misspelling, all cool is lost

Naa, this stuff isn't true, although I agree amaroK is cooler than 
Amarok. However, if you correct people, they think you suck, if you do 
nothing, you have a conflict in spelling and a brand identity issue, if 
you standardise on the misspelling these issues disappear in future.

Max