GNU Privacy Guard

[lilo]

On Thu, 19 Feb 1998, BeeP wrote:

> As a marketeer, I must applaud your choosing of the TLA GPG! It's GREAT!
> People KNOW what PGP is. Even my some of my non-computer using friends are
> familiar with the acronym. Software callled GPG will have near-instant name
> recognition. 

Well, let's look at this logically.  How did PGP get this "great" name
recognition?

PGP was a *terrible* name, it's alphabet soup.  It worked because the
program PGP got good advertising. The program was recommended extensively by
word-of-mouth.  ;)

> *In the Linux world, a popular graphics programs is called G.I.M.P. I
> haven't a clue what the IVLA means. The article praising it to the heavens
> in Linux Journal never explained the name. Since it's the engineer-named
> world of Linux it could be something as information-free as "Gimp Is My
> Product." My point? In the U.S., "gimp" is an EXTREMELY insulting word for
> a disabled person. What kind of marketing is that?

And a "gimp" is a little creature they've drawn, their mascot, Wilber the
Gimp, obviously not disabled in the least.  So far word seems to be
spreading, and no one seems to have complained.

Maybe the conventional idea of what will "sell" is a little biased toward
repetitiveness and extremes of safety.  Give the user some credit for
intelligence.


lilo