[RolandWeigelt] Atom caused the following reactions that are more than just "I like X better" or "there's a collision with X". From a marketing point of view, positive reactions are the goal, indifference is tolerable, but negative feelings can be a killer (advertising is all about feelings).
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NO, no, no. Atom, if it only meant "elemental", is a great name for Echo. But associations with "nuclear" will obviously crop up in product names and headlines etc. - thus associations with the fear of attacks and disasters past and future. I cringe that this "critical mass" is coming together so quickly. Or we could just learn to love the bomb and rename Echo Apocalypse. No better Holocaust. Anyone present from Nagasaki? Hiroshima? Ukraine? Belarus?
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[ShelleyPowers] And just think of the variations -- we'll have an Atomic API, an Atomic feed, a Nuclear wiki, Explosive discussions....
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[-1] [GeorgBauer] Yeah, and if we foul up, we have nuclear waste and all those negative comments on our work is just fallout - no, sorry, but Atom has a very negative touch around here
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[GaryF] I wouldn't worry about that. If we foul up, they'll come up with some amusing term based on whatever name is picked.
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[-1] [RolandWeigelt] Hmm... Asked several colleagues (developers), all expressed negative feelings. Could be a German problem, because of the use of "Atom-" as a prefix like "nuclear". E.g. a transport of nuclear material is a "Atom-Transport" (usually accompanied by demonstrations), switch on TV and hear about yet another "Atom-Skandal" (scandal) -- I don't think "Atom" is a cool name.
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[0] [MarkCidade] +1 for naming and moving on before Pie or Echo become more entrenched. -1 because Atom has a homonym in U.S. and Canadian English ("Adam?" "No, Ah-TUM" "Oh, like an atom bomb?" "Uh, yeah...")
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[-1] [ZhangYining] Doesn't sound cool, maybe powerful. Too associated with Atomic bomb, etc.
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[-1] [JonDavis] NO! Absolutely not. Atom is geeky and lame; memories of those molecular structure models made of wood in seventh grade science class are flashing in my head... Yuck, why not throw in a chalkboard in the science lab and scrape your fingernails all over it? At least with Echo we had a name that had a fundamental meaning that directly reflected what it was we were seeking to accomplish. Stick to that mindset, and then I'll vote yes. Till then, "Atom" means nothing to me.
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[-1] Linguistically, short names are for fundamental things. RSS++ or whatever is cool, and important to this audience, but just not that fundamental; go for a longer name, it's an "under the covers" technology anyway.