the "brand" GnuPG, (was: proposal python-gnupg2)

[Bernhard Reiter]

Hi, 

what is (or should be) our "brand" (name):

Wikipedia writes
"Brand is a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is used to identify 
and distinguish a specific product, service, or business." [1]

So what is a good brand name for the "The GnuPG Project"?

The naming principles recorded in wikipedia [2] are too profit-oriented
for my taste, let me pick some product name qualities that apply to us:

* They strategically distinguish the product from its competitors [..]
* They hold appeal for the product’s target audience

Am Dienstag 18 Oktober 2016 08:57:17 schrieb Bernhard Reiter:
> > > The brand recognition is specifically highest about "gnupg" not "gpg".
> >
> > I have no idea whether this is true or not.  How are you measuring it?
>
> My observation over a couple of years. Feedback from people that get
> exposed to OpenPGP. 

The problem I've notived with the name "OpenPGP" is its length. It is a five 
syllable word. Nobody seems to type or say "OpenPGP" with joy because of its 
length and difficulty of prounciation (in English). People will mostly fall 
back to "PGP".

GPG and PGP are too close to each other to offer a sufficient distinction.
While GPG seems to have overtaken PGP in world-wide usage by far, people still 
mix it up. When reading articles in the general press, it is often mixed up.

"GnuPG" scores better on the appeal (for usage) because it is shorter to write 
and easier to say.  "GnuPG can be remembered better and is more different to 
the competing proprietary product "PGP" and the similiar named standard.

Am Dienstag 18 Oktober 2016 17:04:25 schrieb Uri Blumenthal:
> One quick point: as far as I know, the highest "brand recognition" today is
> gpg, probably followed by PGP (at least among those who remember :)), gnupg
> being a distant third.
>
> And I've been with PGP development since its inception.

Uri, thanks for your observation!
Given that you are long time crypto expert,  you may belong to a group which 
is skilled in making a distinction between pgp and gpg. People farer away from 
the topic are less able to.

My goal is to let many more people get the benefits of "The GnuPG Project"
and so far "GnuPG" seems the name best suited for doing so.

Best Regards,
Bernhard


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_%28disambiguation%29
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_naming#Principles

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