Re: GNOME vs. Gnome

[Dan Winship <danw helixcode com>]

> I don't think this topic is appropriate for a vote. I think it should 
> just be 'GNOME' (at least in the English language) because it is an 
> acronym.

It's not really an acronym. It's "let's come up with a cool word that
starts with `gn' and then retcon an acronym around it." And just
because it's historically been an acronym doesn't mean it needs to
stay one.

It's not even a very good acronym. What words in it attach to which
other words how? I can't even figure out if it's grammatical. (Should
"Network" be "Networked"?) What is the word "Model" doing there? Is
GNOME just a model? Where's the real GNOE?. Or is it the objects that
are models (in which case, where are the real objects?).

And it's not like the acronym is terribly important to us anyway.
People who know what GNU is will figure out that GNOME is related to
it based on the "gn". People who don't wouldn't get it even if they
did see the acronym. (And we mention GNU on the front page of
www.gnome.org anyway, but it takes two clicks to reach a page that
expands the acronym, and the first click isn't on "What is GNOME?".)

Besides, if we switch to "Gnome" and remove all references to the old
acronym, then you'll be able to prove your 1337-ness by knowing what
it used to stand for. :)

-- Dan