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Hi Stefan,

2010/10/12 Stefan Weigel <stefan.weigel@bildungskreis.org>

Hi Jon,

Jon Hamkins schrieb:


 To explain what LibreOffice means, first I have to explain what libre
means, because it isn't an English word.


Well, LibreOffice isn´t an English product. It´s made by an international
community from all over the world. And it´s made for users all over the
world. I am sure, it will be available in an amazing number of different
languages.

So, why do you think things would be easier, if the name of the product was
English?


 It's as easy to explain as any other foreign word


What do you mean by "foreign"? I think, "open" is a foreign word to at
least as many people as "libre" is.


Well, I'm a Czech and my native language is Czech. The problem I have with
"LibreOffice" is that it's just hard to pronounce. I'm not very good at
saying the French "r", so I try to say "LibreOffice" with an English accent,
which doesn't sound very good either. "LibreOffice" with a Czech accent
sounds even worse.

It's not a problem of foreign words: "OpenOffice" is easy to pronounce for
Czechs, just like "e-mail", "Firefox", "Google," "Linux," "Inkscape," and
other English-based names. But "LibreOffice" is just a bit too complex,
mainly due to the French "r" and the different possible pronunciations of
"Libre".o the French "r" and the different possible pronunciations of
"Libre".



 On the other hand, I don't have to explain OpenOffice.org, because it's
already in the lexicon -- 300 million people have already downloaded it.
 For those that haven't, they at least already know what "open" means, and
it's easy to explain how that relates to the software.


Yes, but now the software is not (only) open any more, but has become free
(in sense of liberty). And IMO it´s a very good way to demonstrate this
transition by the changing of the name from "OpenOffice" to "LibreOffice".

Stefan.



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