Skip to Content

Massively explains Warhammer Online to the dedicated WoW player
AOL Tech

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video, Internet, Open Source

Democracy Player changes name to 'Miro'

What's in a name? Lots of things, including the difference between confusing and creating potential users of your application, apparently. That's why the Participatory Culture Foundation is renaming Democracy Player, its open source internet television surfing program, despite sticking with the original name for over a year.

"Our early Mac beta versions of Democracy Player were called 'DTV'– we didn't think that we could be 'Democracy' until we had something substantial to offer... In all our debates about whether you could call something 'Democracy' and how people would react to the name, we hadn't realized that so many people would simply assume that the software was for politicians and videos about politics."

With that, the new name will be Miro, and a there's a lesson to be learned here in the meantime: if you've got a potentially creative, but ultimately too symbolic and image-burdened name for your software, think twice about it. You can't always expect casual users to look beyond the name of an application to see its real use. Anyway, check out the official word from the folks themselves to get the full lowdown.

Recent Posts

Relevant Posts

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tip of the Day

Catch all of TUAW's ongoing Macworld coverage at www.tuaw.com/macworld2009


Follow us on Twitter!

Sponsored Links

Featured Galleries

DNC Macs
Macworld 2008 Keynote
Macworld 2008 Build-up
Google Earth for iPhone
Podcaster
Cucchiaio d'Argento
Scrabble for iPhone
Apple Vanity Plates
Apple booth Macworld 07
DiscPainter
2009CupertinoBus
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
Macworld Expo 2007 show floor
Apple Texas Hold 'Em
The Macworld Faithful in Line
iPhone First Look
Facebook 2 for iPhone
TUAW at Macworld 2009 -- North Hall
2009 Macworld Day One
Beejive 2.0
Aurora Feint

 

More Apple Analysis