App name poll

[naveensingh]

I know naming is hard but to avoid spending any more time on this, this poll will decide the final app names. There won't be any discussion or name change after that. Like before, the prefixes will only be visible on app stores and not on the user's home screen or app launchers. Poll options are sorted alphabetically.

The organization's name will stay the same.

Update:

This poll is outdated, the second poll is here: https://github.com/orgs/FossifyOrg/discussions/52.

[HaneulCheong]

Not multiple chocies or ranked I really like a lot of options here :( welp I guess that's one of many Github's limitations.

[DiagonalArg]

Well, to just offer a counterpoint ... I only like one of them, and I rather dislike the rest.

Fossify! :)

None of those adjectives - Clean, Elite, Essential, Green, Pure, Quick - say anything of uniqueness about the apps. And "Focus", what is that supposed to be there? A noun? A verb? How does it relate to the software? Fossify, on the other hand, is a slogan, a verb, it's active, and it relates to software. I think I'd even add the "!"

FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY! FOSSIFY!

(To the sound of stomping feet.)

[Tom4tot]

I think the issue with "Fossify" is that most people won't understand the "foss" part of it. But it's also more distinctive that all the other names. Imo "simple" was too generic. For this reason, I'll vote for fossify. I've never encountered this kind of name in the FOSS community so it should remain distinctive even within the community.

Thank you for this fork! Long live Simple apps suite.

[vijay-prema]

At first I wasn't sure but thinking about it more, I also like it. It is unique enough. Having FOSS embedded in the name reduces chance of non-foss copycats maybe? Might even wake up a few curious normal people to actually understand what FOSS is. Perhaps even in the app description and website, you can write one sentence about the spirit of FOSS to educate those!

[dekipantelija]

Usually, from looking at normies and non foss initiated peoples' phones, if the name is too exotic and not very known, they just run away. Most people just think "i want something that does this and that" and go for the first result. If the name isn't self explanatory, the mainstream won't get in the train

[vijay-prema]

Its a good point but also consider that app stores are full of algorithms that actually funnel normal people into clicking on things. We can let our 4.9 star rating do the talking 💪 to those who are receptive and not complete sheep. Like even if you search for "Simple Notes" on Play store SMT app is buried far below.

[meenbeese]

Well, SMT did not exactly have a good reputation even before the sale. The users on Play Store were treated much worse than those on Fdroid. Tibbi introduced forced "free trials" and locked people out of the apps permanently once the trial was over. Whatever name we end up choosing, our apps will be recommended more than his were because ours will simply be better :)

[tukykarmakar]

Since we are talking about an average user, Fossify is too close to sounding Fuss-ify to me. I feel like there's mild case of Amazon's "Cadabra" going on with the name.

[meenbeese]

While "Fossify" may resonate with us tech enthusiasts on GitHub, it will not convey much to an average user. The concept of FOSS is already pretty niche and complex, and adding a suffix only complicates it further. In contrast, "Pure" is simpler and more appealing, with just one syllable versus three. This situation reminds me of the transition from MAPS.ME to its community fork, now known as Organic Maps. It sports a green logo and an ad-free motto, much like ours. I believe we should follow their approach and use understandable terminology to attract a broader user base. Keeping only the general project/package name as "Fossify" could be a good compromise for those who favor the original name.

[vijay-prema]

I was thinking like that at first but I think putting our foot down and slamming "foss" everywhere with a userbase like this, presents an opportunity to introduce many "normal" people to the concept even if it doesn't sink in the right way, at least its better than complete ignorance of it.

We just need to remember to try to explain the idea to normal people in the audience in a simple way, maybe one sentence in the website or description and link to a page with longer philosophy. This will also help people to understand that they should make donation if they can. Also having FOSS in the name probably make it harder to sell to non-foss company in future if naveen goes dark side 😂

[naveensingh]

I think once we have enough users, even searching fossify will do the trick.

Regarding translation, if the goal is to build a brand and general awareness around it, translating the app name is not that great of an idea. I'm not aware of any popular app with translated names. Is "Instagram" translated to Russian? What about Google or Microsoft?

From what I have seen, most of the population has some amount of exposure to English now so I think app names in English won't be a problem.

[naveensingh]

This will also help people to understand that they should make donation if they can. Also having FOSS in the name probably make it harder to sell to non-foss company in future if naveen goes dark side 😂

@vijay-prema why do you think I chose that name? It's to prevent myself and future maintainers from going to the dark side. SmartMobileTools would have done the job too but I didn't pick it.

[savely-krasovsky]

Is "Instagram" translated to Russian? What about Google or Microsoft?

Of course not. I see no problem to use English naming.

[DiagonalArg]

I had no idea what "fossify" referred to, but I immediately voted for it. Unique, interesting, the same as the website. I think it's a slam-dunk.

[dekipantelija]

First of all thank you for getting the work done, no thankyous are ever enough in life. I hope pure wins over fossify if it goes between the two, even though there is a bunch of apps using pure, or quick or clean. "fossify calendar", "fossified gallery", etc sound kinde tonguetwister. Then again, names can be changed in the future, if complaints keep going. Naveeapps?

[naveensingh]

Naveeapps 😂. You are funny.

[Octopus1348]

I like clean more, really describes the nature of the apps, but if pure wins that's also fine.

[HaneulCheong]

Personally clean fossify pure and quick are all great choices; They each portray the nature of the apps well in their own way

[SkylerFur]

I like Pure, because that's want I want: A Pure File Manager, A Pure Gallery App. Clean isn't bad, but I know it's used to signify that it's not got trackers and shit; however I want a XOrg story. Where the Dev's just moved on and kept it going.

[anon8675309]

I don't like the negatives associated with "pure." It jusy conjures up images of judgemental people deciding is others are pure enough (in various ways) to be considered good/acceptable. I get that this is describing an app, not people, but the word has just been tainted for me, which is sadly ironic. I'd prefer something that doesn't inadvertently give the wrong impression to potential users.

[mosiser]

Using simple names, or simple adjectives, makes the app difficult to find.
Searching news, updates, support for Telegram, Whatsapp, Threema is easy.
Doing the same for Element, Wire, Signal is a lot harder. You have to deal with many results that have nothing to do with these apps. It's often frustrating.

So, searching "Clean Calendar" takes to pages such as "how to clean up your calendar", "Essential Contacts" to "how to backup your essential contacts", etc...

In my opinion, Fossify is more distinguishable, easier to identify. If the average user doesn't understand the meaning of the this name, is really important?

If instead one of the simple adjectives wins the poll, I suggest to use it all one word, like "PureGallery", "PureCalendar". It's less ambiguous.

[tswistak]

I agree with a part about difficulty to find - people will first find Pure dating app, not Pure Calendar etc. However, I wouldn't use "PureCalendar" - IMO the "Calendar", "Gallery" part should be translatable because average non-English users will look for the name in their language.

[dekipantelija]

I believe writing it in a single word (purecalendar) could solve that or at least mitigate the false positives you're talking about. Telegram, whatsapp and so on hit as to what the app does so it's memorable. Signal dors nit sound as explicitely about conversations as whatsapp.
Puremonths for the calendar, purememories for the gallery and so on maybe? Whichever name wins, we can get creative and look at synonyms. And in small characters we could add (a Fossify'ed app or something for branding)

[mosiser]

However, I wouldn't use "PureCalendar" - IMO the "Calendar", "Gallery" part should be translatable because average non-English users will look for the name in their language.

I'm not so sure about this.
It always sounded strange to me how the names of the previous apps were translated.
I mean, I'd prefer "PureGallery" rather than "Pura Galleria" or "Galleria Pura" or "Pure Galleria" (in italian, "pure" means mashed potatoes 😄)
Also, when you search for support, you probably have to use english, so you have to use the english name.

I would propose to use the english all-one-word name for the app (PureGallery, PureDialer,...) and the translated one only on launchers and home screen.

[Miigon]

Clean sounds too close to a certain cleaning software for macOS. Essential sounds good but maybe already taken by essential phone? Elite sounds a bit pretentious and Quick is too generic.
And for the love of god please don't do Green lol, it sounds like spyware.
Pure is good, fossify is good as well. I personally still prefer fossify since it's more iconic.

[tukykarmakar]

• Clean - this name sounds like it's the bare minimum with no other feature, which is untrue and might mislead some people who are looking for such apps.
• Elite - this is the opposite of Clean, meaning that it gives the impression of having all the features a user could possibly ask for, which again, is not true.
• Essential - the word Essential has potential but I feel it's too long and not simple enough to roll off the tongue or be recalled easily and quickly.
• Focus - similar issue as Clean.
• Fossify - I don't have anything else to add to this, people have mentioned all the points of why this name is unsatisfactory.
• Green - if it's not something explicitly related to colours, Green has the impression of being associated with environmentally friendly projects. If you're not actually contributing to such projects, it will be a wrong impression.
• Pure - the word Pure can have subjective meaning and thus, has the malleability to be associated with this project where the apps are not basic enough to be Clean, Focus or Quick, but also not feature-rich to be Elite. I believe this can be interpreted as the Goldilocks zone for many.
• Quick - just like Clean and Focus, this one might lead users to believe that it's a heavily optimised and fast app that doesn't consume too much resources and won't slow down the phone.

[gerrix1701]

Not sure if this is relevant, but there is already a Linux distro called "PureOS". Other than that "pure" or "fossify" sounds great!
@naveensingh thanks a lot for taking care of those apps!

[ariasuni]

I’m honestly quite surprised about the popularity of the name «Pure». Personally, it feels more like a moral and abstract judgment, rather than a more material description like «quick» (which can also mean that the task is quick to be done with these apps because they’re not bloated and the UI is simple) or even «focus» (which makes sense when the apps are focusing on doing one thing properly without too much distractions), and «pure» evokes more dangerous political ideologies than a cool FOSS project IMHO.

[vijay-prema]

Fossil is interesting but it also makes it sound like its "old" or dead i.e. fossilized. It makes me wonder what other variants. Fossed, Fossy, Fosso, Foss-me, go-foss, ifoss etc

[K-L-R-3]

@ariasuni Pure's meaning in the moral sense is derived from its meaning in the material sense. Pure, as I understand it, means exclusively of the specified substance/ absent any other substance. So when you use it in the moral context by itself it is used to mean all good and void of any evil. But you could also say "pure evil" which means all evil and void of any good. The "pure" part expresses exclusivity rather than any specific moral slant. Clever writers have used that fact as a twist in stories where only a person pure of heart can do xyz and then it turns out the villain can because their heart is pure... it just happens to be pure evil.

I like pure for the suite. It is Purely the desired function and no filler/bloat/trackers/other garbage. That being said, I feel compelled to agree that other apps using pure could cause problematic misassociations. Something original like fossify might help.
I am kind of surprised that fossify foss-related names aren't abundant on the app stores, especially Fdroid. I saw Foss Warn Weather and Moodle and Telegram Foss but not a ton else. While I like Pure better, I think Fossify is the wiser decision.

[tukykarmakar]

@vijay-prema Fossil could also mean a reminder of how things were in the past and a mark of it still exists as a reminder. The apps were all simple and were focused on doing one specific task, but now they're filled with services and trackers that constantly transmit data about users. This suite is still a reminder of how functional simplicity can be.
Also, the watch company has already thought through it for us😅

[HaneulCheong]

368 votes

Hwoa who are you people

[Tom4tot]

Wow, I was wondering why Pure took the lead by such a big margin. I find it a bit unfortunate that's because of a video, but I guess he had good arguments.

[mosiser]

It's quite alright, if we all thought the same thing, we would all be robots.

Sure. No problem with the result. "Pure" was also my second choice.
The problem is not when different people think differently, but when one person counts as 400 votes.
Please, remember it, when you will have to do polls on more important topics...

[naveensingh]

This is fun. It looks like Fossify will lose against Pure. I'll leave this poll open for a few days. Let it saturate a bit. In the meantime we'll focus on other aspects, the app name will only be needed at the time of the release. Let's see what the people want :)

[K-L-R-3]

I came here from that video/link to vote for Pure but after skiming the comments and deliberating a bit. While I prefer Pure, there might be some missassociations with existing apps and this project ironicly needs a "Pure" reputation to reset from the SMT issue. Fossify is also a nice opportunity to start a conversation about what foss is. Even if people don't care to undrestand there are tons of apps with weird names so I don't think someone unfamiliar will be turned off by the name. The ratings and a quality suite are more important than the name anyway. Sorry Brodie.

[inson1]

1k Now ..... Crazy

[linkert]

Neu {Gallery, Calendar, ...}

Neu as in german word for new. Why? Because Dieter Rams is German (no relation to anything here) and German words gives authority and it's a new beautiful dawn for the project.

[naveensingh]

@linkert hey, thanks for the suggestion but I doubt many community members will resonate with that name. Besides the poll is going to decide the name now.

[alekksander]

only "Fossify". it's precise, self explanatory for those who can read its meaning it and original for everyone else. it folds perfectly to FossifyX and is not associated with anything else. Pure, Clean etc sounds like a product of a company one can call to clean offices, but fossify stand for its own. if this were metal band name poll the choice we have to make here would have been something between: "metallica" and "pure metal". take the big name first.

[dekipantelija]

Indeed, if the intent is a foss set of apps. Most people downloaded them because they were clear from ads, didn't obligate you to sync with a mail account, and were straight to the point. For normies, foss is a bonus. What is the goal of this fork? If its to offer a foss element, ok. If it's to provide a user experience and that the dev happens to support foss, then the focus is on the feel of use.

[alekksander]

prefix "open" and "libre" is also nice, wouldn't vote for it over fossify, but it belongs to this pool. any specific reason it's not considered?

[naveensingh]

GitHub polls have a limited number of options (8). The names are usually decided by the maintainers so I didn't think it would get that much attention but it turns out we have a really big community :)

If I'd known this before, I would have done it some other way with more options so people can choose what they like.

[ronniedroid]

Now I feel bad that Fossify is loosing even though I like Pure a lot, damn you @BrodieRobertson 😅

[alekksander]

[dekipantelija]

I guess it's a Good thing it isn't Clean (my pick) that's winning 😂

[MiguelAlejandria]

i know "clean_" is loosing but i prefer that name because it explain the most important thing on the app

[MiguelAlejandria]

can i propose a name?
What about "Core"?
Core Calendar, Core Player, Core Clock....

i look on the google store and there is nothing related with that name, also the name describes (again) the most important thing on this apps imo, it means something for the users

[MiguelAlejandria]

ok, done, thank you!

[K-L-R-3]

Core actually sounds like a good fit. How do you get it into the poll?

[inson1]

@K-L-R-3 without big support its too late :/ Github limitations

[inson1]

@K-L-R-3 but someone here wanted second pool with other options, go like it if you agree

[inson1]

@K-L-R-3 https://github.com/orgs/FossifyOrg/discussions/23#discussioncomment-7790663

[Aga-C]

@naveensingh How about doing a second round of voting with only two most popular options? Reasons:

• At the time I'm writing it, none of the options had 50%, so we can't say that the majority of users want to have a particular name.
• It will give a voice to people who voted for other options.
• There is a possibility, that some votes could be done just because people wanted to support their favorite YouTuber, but aren't particularly interested in the apps. The second round may filter some of those votes.

[inson1]

hey I just want to point out that it was even said about this pool that its final
tbh its just "slippery slope"

[naveensingh]

@inson1 I know I said final but at the same time, I think it's important to be flexible in general. That's why I like to use words like possibly, probably, likely, maybe, should be, could be, etc. The following quote kinda fits:

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”

The other second-round comment is there to prevent the slippery slope but if I do any more polls after the second and the possible third one, kill me (please don't).

[inson1]

@naveensingh yes flexible is good

Snake isnt really the most favorite animal in the world + if you would say about someone that he casts his skin I would get it as he is untrustworthy

[naveensingh]

@Aga-C @inson1 think the comment's got enough attention, I'll create a second poll soon. The outcome of the second poll will be considered if it gets at least 15% votes of the current votes (It's low because we won't get that many visitors now that the dust has settled).

[naveensingh]

Second round: https://github.com/orgs/FossifyOrg/discussions/52

The top 6 most liked suggestions will be considered.

I have included Core, Foss, Fossify, Just, and Pure.

[TheCustomFHD]

I dont know, but maybe "Bare"-? Or "Uncluttered"? Or a variation of those? Pure is good but sounds clunky, id go for Fossify if people knew more about tech.. but if im perfectly honest they all arent great

[inson1]

@naveensingh hey may you add to op post that everybody can switch their vote and how to do it, please?

[vijay-prema]

Good point. It can be switched by clicking Hide Results then changing option and clicking Vote again

[eylenburg]

Fossify will be the easiest one to find on a search engine

[roelofr]

Well, the org will still contain Fossify, so that'll likely mean a search for "Fossify Calendar" will match the "<prefix> Calendar by Fossify Apps".

[cybersphinx]

How about a double prefix like "Fossify Pure Calendar"? Since a single word seems hard to make both unique and meaningful.

[dekipantelija]

Purified?

[mecuricat]

Sweet Apps

• Sweet Gallery
• Sweet Calendar
• Sweet Dialer
• Sweet Contacts

One syllable - sweet. Less tongue exercise. Feels quick to say the words together.

Sounds good in conversation too.

"Hey guys, have you heard of Sweet Apps?"

"I would recommend Sweet Apps"

In the word sweet, there is also homage to Simple and Tibor.

[inson1]

@naveensingh Also please be more clear - arent clear means more than 50%?

If the second-round results aren't clear enough, there will likely be a final round with the two most-voted options.

[inson1]

@naveensingh hey you still didnt set the time.

[naveensingh]

@inson1 clarify please, do you want to set a predefined amount of time for the comment result or the second poll?

[inson1]

@naveensingh everything - for this pool + when second pool happens + for comment results
second poll should have some set time amount when created

(with one time set option to increase it by one day if something happens)

[tukykarmakar]

There's a lot of stuff named Sweet though.

• There's a set of KDE themes.
• An NFT marketplace
• A dating app
• And also a ton of Candy Crush ripoffs in the PlayStore
  And a load more. So it's gonna be tough to find Sweet App Suite among them. Besides, Sweet Suite doesn't quite right either.

[inson1]

Those who want a second round with more options, please like this comment and comment your options below. The top 6 most liked suggestions will be considered. Fossify and Pure are already included.

To ensure a broader consensus, there will be a final 3rd round including the top two options if the most-voted option in the second round is less than two-thirds of the total votes.

[rwmpelstilzchen]

@woj-tek

Maybe "Just" (Just calendar, Just Dialer, Just contact)?

"just" as in "only" and "just" as "fair; morally correct" (as per https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/just)

There is a syntactic difference between the two: ‘just a calendar’ means ‘a calendar and nothing else’, while ‘a just calendar’ means ‘a fair, morally right calendar’.

[rwmpelstilzchen]

Another option is ‘KISS Calendar’ 😽

[bmslgpn]

There are very good suggestions here. Also, please consider a modern voting system like https://mieuxvoter.fr/en. It is very interesting. It is explained here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_judgment.

[Imnebuddy]

Mere

Similar to Pure, but perhaps without the trademark issue and negative connotations mentioned earlier

[naveensingh]

Second round is here: https://github.com/orgs/FossifyOrg/discussions/52

[inson1]

@naveensingh I would be for deleteing these comments from there and just adding them "here" as normal commnets (under the post, not under my comment) and ofc write who is the author

@RustoMCSpit please no comments other than names. Also, single names or at least separately so people can 👍 the one they like

[inson1]

@dekipantelija @Octopus1348 @rwmpelstilzchen Please dont write here other things than new names :) you can create new coment under the main post :)
@Retardium please split it - so people can like it

[upbox-org]

Sorry, will do. I misread your first post.

[inson1]

@Retardium Dont worry Mabye I would also split light lite and base basic

[hax0rbana-adam]

• Respectful
• Private

These convey that this suite of apps offers something that the corporate ones will never be able to compete with.

[ronniedroid]

Have you heard of Private Internet Access VPN? Which is not private at all 😅

[inson1]

@hax0rbana-adam add it to under the comment (and please split it)
https://github.com/orgs/FossifyOrg/discussions/23#discussioncomment-7790663

[ikanakova]

I like the Foss (or Fossify) suggestion because, unlike the other suggestions, FOSS is an abbreviation that is used in different languages and is therefore not just a purely English name.

[LucaRed]

Fossify is distinctive and it's not trademarked.

"Pure", "Clean", "Essential" and other generic terms have some problems:

1. They're harder to find on the stores (many apps use such words in their descriptions).
2. They may be even harder to find, if we decide to translate them.
3. They may be registered trademarks (example on the EU trademark portal).

[Cwpute]

on the other hand, Fossy is not 👀

[Cwpute]

I think my problem with Fossify it is too long of a word, and it seems meaningless. Yeah sure, it's a transformed version of another app… but it joest sounds kind of… "heavy" ? heavy-handed ?

In the second poll @developist suggested Fossy i i like it a lot better. Only two syllables, somewhat cute, still features FOSS in it, and is not a regsitered trademark either.

Also someone else suggested Fossil, and that's just funny 😄

[LearningAsIGo71]

Fossify is too long and seems meaningless? How about Amazon, now the world's largest online retailer? The name is 3 syllables and seems completely unrelated to online shopping. But now when people say the word the first thing that comes to mind for many of us (sadly) is the store and not the rainforest. Or how about Facebook Marketplace (4 syllables) and now more popular with many than craigslist (only 2 syllables}?

[LearningAsIGo71]

I think Fossify is the best choice. It is creative (unlike pure, basic, sweet, and whatever else has been mentioned), unique (not trademarked), easy enough to pronounce, techy sounding, and meaningful enough to be the best choice. The first part (I.e. foss) indicates the type of app it is/philosophy of the company and the second part {i.e. ify) indicates what it has done to/for the apps, similar to other words ending in i-f-y like beautify.

The one and only issue I have with Fossify is that when pronounced it sounds a bit like the word "falsify". So with first time people who are not familiar with it, the name would have to be spelled out when introducing it. Not a big deal, but something to be mindful of.

On the other hand I think Fossy sounds too cutesy/cheesy to me, like the name of a stuffed animal or something. And for first timers, it also would have to be spelled out as from the mere pronunciation it could sound like fossie, falsy, fallsy, etc... None if which are words of course, but neither is fossy.

I'd go with Fossify.