[kde-promo] Plasma Next Naming

[Martin Klapetek]

On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 3:56 PM, Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:

>
>
> > - Version numbers seem confusing an not very expressive, these should
> rather
>
> > be a technical detail (for example to group bugzilla entries)
>
>
>
> Maybe a silly question: but who finds version numbers confusing?
>

The point was I think that 4.11.3 tells you nothing (as in when it was
released for example), in that regard having the version as month/year
combination is expressive enough to say for example "this is old version,
please update".


>  > * The version number used is Month (as name) + year
>
>
>
> Including what gets reported in about UI and command line switches? How
> will this work with plugin compat checking, or will there be another
> numerical version?
>

I would think so. Like 2013-02 or in better format.


>  > * "Plasma by KDE" (don't use "KDE Plasma", but rather "by KDE”)
>
>
>
> What benefit does this aim to bring?
>

This was my idea and the idea is to bring more clear separation between KDE
and Plasma. You would be surprised, but every single article about KDE SC
in Czech republic still names it "KDE". Imho if we explicitely say "This is
product Plasma, done by KDE (ie. Plasma by KDE)", this should help the
redefinition effort.

Also it's inspired by real-world success rebranding - for example Brise,
the "nice smell" company, is now Glade and you can see "Glade, by Brise" -
makes a clear connection to the estabilished brand of Brise and also draws
a lot more clearer picture - "we renamed this product to Glade, but it's
still made by us".


> Will this be the recommendation in login screens as well? (So soon after
> we finally got most/all using “KDE Plasma” instead of just "KDE")
>

I would leave just "Plasma [fish]" here.


>  Should other KDE applications / libraries adopt this naming for
> consistency? Why / why not? If not, do we expect our users and downstream
> to get that sorted out correctly?
>

I think this is already mostly the case, no? We have Dolphin, not KDE
Dolphin...we do have "KDE Telepathy", but, well, ok...that could use a
change. Everyone calls it KTp anyway, maybe we'll adopt it for good. *shrug*


> There are certainly products that use this naming scheme, such as perfumes
> and clothing, but it’ll be a bit of a stand-out in the tech space.
>

More points for us, then? ;)


>
>
> > * Each release gets a codename based on a marine animal (*1), in
>
> > alphabetical order, one for each feature release
>
>
>
> > * "Please file a bug against Plasma June/2014"
>
> > * "KDE Releases Plasma Angelfish"
>
>
>
> Having both a date/year and a code-name seems counterproductive for
> communication: do bug reports go against Angelfish or June/2014? (probably
> neither: a version number, which is a third piece of information, is used).
> User A says “I’m using Plasma Angelfish” and the other says “I’m using June
> 2014”.
>

Seems to work for *Ubuntu. The bugzilla entries could even be "2014-06
(Anglefish)".


>  Having announcements that use “Plasma Anglefish” but “file a bug again
> Plasma Jun/2014” highlights how this will be difficult to understand for
> the casual user (and probably many non-casual users).
>
>
>
> If “Plasma Zebrafish” compatible with “Plasma Jellyfish”? This is
> something that version numbers actually tell you without having to look it
> up on a table.
>
A date contains some implicit information, while a naming scheme needs both
> additional information to be understandable (e.g. knowing that it is
> alphabetical; a look-up table for how old a given codename is versus
> another) and doesn’t relate anything beyond sequence.
>

Fwiw, I don't think users would ask these questions. I think it's anyway up
to distros to provide what's compatible to the users. And distro people are
imho capable of handling that. Would be nice to have some packagers input
from packager's perspective.


>  A name based on animals seems very gimicky imho and a step towards a
> rather more informal approach. It may also be perceived as a me-too move in
> reference to MacOS and Unity.
>

I think informal is good direction with this. We gave /a lot/ of ideas,
wild ones too. This just seemed to be the best one we came up with.


> What particular challenge(s) is the code naming idea trying to address?
>

These are stated in the original email.

Cheers
-- 
Martin Klapetek | KDE Developer
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