Help Choose a Product Name

[Tim Penrose]

I have an idea that I think will be fun...

I love how "Novo Libera" looks, sounds, and means. But will potential customers be able to locate the product with such an obscure name?

I'm reluctant to use KeyNote as the product name because I don't have "prior art" as Marek would have had. This leaves me susceptible to Apple's substantial and ferocious legal team. Lastly, I have not yet heard what Marek thinks of all this and I will be respectful to him if/when I do.

So here’s what we’ll do; Submit the name(s) you come up with as a response to this thread. Also respond to this thread to nominate any names you like. When we have a decent selection of proposed names, I will create a pole that contains all suggested names that were nominated once or more. I reserve the right to veto a nomination if I absolutely can’t stand a name, but I probably wont because I would be really unhappy if I had to do that.

“Novo Libera” will be treated like any other proposed name. If you want this name to be included in the poll, please nominate it.

Thanks

[brabo]

Hmm... my native language is Portuguese and I don't specially like the way Novo Libera sounds - or means. Maybe you should keep it safe and stay with English - an international language and a live one for that.

Is NeoNote taken?

Anyway, it may be easier to suggest a name once we have something to *see* of the program itself. Once we get to know its solutions and the general approach I am sure more ideas shall come.

Cheers,

P

[Tim Penrose]

Haha.. Thanks for the tip, Brabo. I'm afraid to ask what it means in Portuguese!

The following mini-dissertation is an explanation for why I need the product name to somehow embody the concept of “creating freely.” So you can stop here if you are willing to accept this premise without explanation.. Otherwise continue reading…

I'm convinced that extremely successful business software has profound personal usefulness. This is the reason why enterprise level software, for example SAP, is not more popular than it is. I know that seems like an arbitrary thing to say, but hopefully I can explain why I said this.

Ok… I’m going to make a concerted effort to throw out the word “business” in my future comments… Replace it with “endeavor”… Because people don’t want to do “business”, they want to do “endeavors”… Their endeavor might be to get a college degree, or become a bodybuilder, or become an actor, or learn to play an instrument, or create a charity organization that helps the poor, etc… Regardless what the endeavor is, there are fundamental tasks that all successful people perform when they attempt to achieve something. Business is simply one type of “endeavor” that one might hope to achieve.

Ok… Lets go back to my comment about business software and personal usefulness. People are motivated to do not-so-fun tasks when those tasks are part of the larger endeavor that is inside their heart. There is this terrific scene in the movie, “October Skies”. The movie is a true story about a young boy who dreams of building rockets after he watches Sputnik orbit over his home in a small town. In the scene I am referring to, the boy’s grade-school teacher hands him a book that she found on making ballistic missiles. She says to him, “I don’t know how useful its going to be. The math is very advanced. Math has always been your weakest subject. There’s math in this book that is far too advanced even for me.” The boy’s response is, “Oh, I don’t care about the math. I’ll learn the math!”… It was very profound because it demonstrated to me that if someone has the motivation, they can achieve amazing things. Yes, he learned the math!

People don't dream of sitting around and writing notes. But successful people are willing to do whatever they have to (reference to physical/mentally effort, not abandonment of ethics) in order to make their dreams become reality.

My thought is that modern business management software, business process improvement software, and other “business” oriented applications approach their respective tasks completely backwards. I’m going to call them “endeavor” software. They organize and manage endeavors, even if they are oriented towards business. The existing software I’ve seen tends to be reverse-facing, rather than forward facing. In other words, they capture “how things are done”, after the fact, rather than before the fact (or as its happening).

I want to build something that is forward-facing. This means that it must be useful to every individual that wants to achieve an endeavor, at every point starting at the genesis of a dream, and being able to grow as needed to help someone achieve their dream. KeyNote is perfect for the early stages of an idea. This is because people usually start working towards their goals alone (because they have not yet met people that share their goals), and their ideas are very scattered. But that person will most likely need to eventually collaborate on their endeavor. The application must then becomes a common platform on which to continue their collective endeavor, unrestricted. Imagine something like KeyNotes (with some significant additional functionality) becoming the intellectual basis for a large corporation. It would take more than just “notes”… It would need to work with users, permissions, rights, workflow, information-integration, and lastly, the ability to integrate with applications. If the software stops at “notes” then it will not have what it takes to be the heart of a large-scale “endeavor”….

I wonder how many people are going to think I’m insane at this point… About 8 months ago I was driving in my car. Suddenly, with only about 15 or 20 seconds of premeditation, I stumbled upon a thought that might fundamentally improve the way people use computers. I’ve been a professional software developer for 13 years. Before that, I spent 8 years of my childhood programming. It’s in my blood. The moment the idea came to me, I became convinced that it was the future of computers…

I’ve thought of a development environment that allows users to create their own application, as they perceive the need. It drastically reduces the amount of expertise necessary to create an application. KeyNote (on steroids) just seemed like the best environment for collaboration using this new development idea.

But I’m getting ahead of myself and I fully expect skepticism at such a broad claim… Am I certain that I’m going to redefine how people use computers? No. Only time will answer that question. But I’m convinced enough to keep plugging away at it, day after day, despite what I would much rather be doing with my free time; spending time with my family and making music on my guitar… (Ok.. Big deal! right? every entrepreneur spends lots of time on their idea, no matter how stupid the idea)...

Is this “future of computers” simply a small addition to a KeyNote style application? Not at all! But I spent several months thinking and researching the best infrastructure for this idea… I’m convinced that the best infrastructure is something like KeyNote. So even though the application will begin life as a note organizer, its will not remain “just a note organizer”. Its going to be a tool that enables users to create freely!

I suppose the best way explain it is that I’m working backwards from that first big idea, rather than forwards from the perspective of, “Lets build a note management application and then play around with it to see if I can extend it to do more.” Its difficult for me to need to spend so much time creating an application that doesn’t yet offer me any substantial advantage over KeyNote. There are a number of refinements and improvements (from my perspective of course), but I was happy enough with KeyNote! So to help stay motivated to work towards my goal, I needed to come up with other innovations to give myself little motivational “milestones”. One, in particular, will be a substantial innovation for note-management that will make it a far superior tool for looking at one’s data in ways that are conceived of after-the-fact. In other words, I’ve got some ideas for mining the data from a tree-note structure that have not yet been implemented.

I’m sorry I can’t yet explain the “big” idea further. It would take 100,000 words to explain it right now. But it will only take a few minutes for people to understand it once there is a real application to interact with. I genuinely believe that this application is going to redefine the way people use computers.

The point of all this is just to say that I really want a name that encompasses the spirit of being able to “create freely, without bounds… To invent without restrictions. To build what’s inside one’s imagination without constraint.”

Sorry this was so long...

Tim

[kf2]

Yes, this is what has been needed for a long time. A program to enter masses of data into, then organize as you start to figure out how! I'm definitely hooked,

Kevin

[ebs]

TakeNote

[brabo]

Tim,

Thank you for providing such a thorough answer. I can't grasp everything you say, but - trust me - I'll learn the math.

About the name itself, maybe we could find an alternative name to suggest all the creative freedom your project will provide. My first suggestions: UpFlow.

[john]

I think MemoryMate says it all.

[trgywft]

How 'bout "Clairvoyance"?

It just seems like you're going to want a name that doesn't limit the program to note-taking functionality. If this program is going to focus on helping users achieve their "endeavors," it must be more than a note-taking program.

[kingsky]

How about "MainSpring"?

Definition: The chief motivating force.

It's also a synonym for the word "keynote" so I think it both sounds good AND is appropriate

-Kevin

[Tim Penrose]

kingsky said:

How about "MainSpring"?

Definition: The chief motivating force.

It's also a synonym for the word "keynote" so I think it both sounds good AND is appropriate

-Kevin

I like it. I like them all, but this one especially. One thing I realize is that every suggestion posted is better than anything I came up with for a name. Soon I will create a poll and put it all to a vote.

[nep]

I really like your dream and you seem very passionate about it so I truly hope that you will fulfill it.

As for the name.. hmm.. howabout something related with brainstorming like MindStorm, ThinkStorm, FreeThink, ThinkFree

… also something that uses the word Muse in it?

…or maybe something simple like CREATE, JustThink, Unbound, Unleashed

(just writing them as they come to me)

Of course most of them are probably taken… ?!

[Tim Penrose]

nep said:

I really like your dream and you seem very passionate about it so I truly hope that you will fulfill it.

As for the name.. hmm.. howabout something related with brainstorming like MindStorm, ThinkStorm, FreeThink, ThinkFree

… also something that uses the word Muse in it?

…or maybe something simple like CREATE, JustThink, Unbound, Unleashed

(just writing them as they come to me)

Of course most of them are probably taken… ?!

Hi Nep, and welcome! Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

One thing I've realized is that it is best to pick names that are statistically unlikely to occur in the course of normal conversation. Otherwise, its difficult to locate related resources using a search engine... For example, imagine trying to find a product if all you knew about it was that it was called "chart"... Maybe it works for Microsoft, but not for us little guys... Actually, it doesn't even work for Microsoft, because one must use more criteria to search for something related to "Windows" as compared to "OSX"... A search for "windows" alone returns results that are unrelated to software, obscuring relevant results. Try searching on "windows" and Window manufacturers consume much of the first 10 hits.... The only way to eliminate the "noise" is to refine the search with additional criteria, which then eliminates "windows" pages, unrelated to the additional criteria but which the user might have found interesting or useful. This effectively reduces the ability of users to mine for "broad" information on "windows"...