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Mambo Changes its Name to Joomla!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the rose-by-another-name dept.

Phil Shapiro writes "The popular open source content management system named Mambo has changed its name to Joomla! -- released under the GNU Public License. Some of the reasons for the name change are explained at MamboPortal.com. Joomla! is used by a very wide array of organizations and companies."

7 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. And what does this thing do, exactly? by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can only use a stupid name if you have a really big advertising budget.

  2. Sweet mother of God by HisMother · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would anyone change the name of their product from a semi-reasonable English word, to a nonsense word that any adult would feel embarrassed to say out loud? I can't imagine a better way to scare off potential new users.

    Not that the company had a good business idea, or anything, but this is exactly the thing that made sure "Flooz.com" was DOA.

    --
    Cantankerous old coot since 1957.
  3. The cost of bad names by teneighty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is an unfortunate example of why most geeks shouldn't be allowed to name things.

    Naming things is tough in this day of domain name squatters, which makes it very tempting to go with meaningless invented names (or names that sound that way to most people - e.g. "Ogg Vorbis"). Weird names are fine for things that don't require much investment to sample them -- but for the case where it does represent a significant investment (in either time, money, or risk) then a weird name can be a severe handicap to the adoption of that product.

    1. Re:The cost of bad names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yeah, geeks pick terrible names. That's why MP3s never took off. Or DVDs. And why the much snappier "LaserDiscs" did so well.

      People don't care about weird names.

    2. Re:The cost of bad names by cgenman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Tell that to Kodak, Albertsons, Google, Cisco, Viagra, etc.

      It's not the name... It's the lack of exposure. If someone is familiar with a name, they will have positive feelings about it and will feel more comfortable with the application / company. But most companies spend as much on advertising as they do on development. When was the last time you saw a 20-person open source development team with 20 full-time promoters?

      Pick a dumb name, stick to it, and batter people with it like there is no tomorrow. They'll make the connections on their own.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  4. Re:Is it, or isn't it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Poor spelling and grammar gives the reader the initial impression that the writer is either too poorly educated or too lazy to come across properly. (If they can't be bothered to produce a quality press release, why should I believe they would produce a quality product?)

    Saying "I'm a programmer, I don't need to know how to spell" shows how little some programmers understand what it takes to be taken seriously by regular people (like those who make business decisions).

  5. Bias? by saterdaies · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Am I the only one who things this article is incredibly biased? I mean, Mambo isn't changing it's name. There will still be a Mambo. Joomla! is a project created based off of Mambo by a lot of the Mambo developers, but it isn't the new name of Mambo.

    Wait. . .this just in Red Hat Linux changes its name to SUSE (insofar as SUSE was based off RH and so clearly it is just a name change and whatever that Red Hat company continues to do isn't real).

    Now, there is a VERY strong argument that Joomla! is where all the big Mambo developers are moving and that it will be more Mambo than Mambo, but the post is libelous because Mambo isn't changing it's name. Mambo is staying around with the Mambo name.