7 ms·

The Z thing is killer. It puts you in company with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz h

The Z thing is killer. It puts you in company with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsez, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratz, and numberless rappers, none of which make a professional impression.

frandroid 12y ago
Names don't matter if you have a good product, unless you create brand confusion (Windows Live Messenger, anyone?). I thought "Google" was the stupidest name, and I still don't find it attractive.
switz 12y ago
While the name is not perfect, I don't believe it is as dramatic as you are making it out to be http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz
- onion2k 12y ago
  If you're Joel Spolsky you can release a piece of software with any name you care to choose and people will still take it seriously because you have earned the respect of your peers. Other people who don't have decades of experience producing exceptional software don't have the same luxury. Fogbugz is a terrible name and if an unknown developer had released it there's a good chance too few people would have looked at it for it to get the necessary traction it needed to succeed. It really isn't an example of something people should follow.
  - mdemare 12y ago
    Also, people who can't pronounce voiced consonants at the end of syllables (such as german, dutch, french people) can't help but hear it as FuckBugs. "Ve still neet a buck trecker, I vas finking about Jira, or do you haef a better idea?" "Yes, I recommend FuckBugs!"
    - onion2k 12y ago
      To be fair though, FuckBugs would be a brilliant name for a bug tracker.
      - thebouv 12y ago
        Let's build it. In BrainFuck.
  - rmc 12y ago
    FogBugz was released in Nov 2000. How big was Joel Spolsky then? (It's before my time.) It looks like Joel was hardly blogging when FogBugz was released ( http://joelonsoftware.com/backIssues.html http://joelonsoftware.com/backIssues.html )
    - GarethX 12y ago
      To be fair, as early as 2004 he had this to say on the name: "Yeah, it's not an ideal name... But the brand equity is already worth significantly more than the cost of having a yucky name... (There was a period for about 6 months when "Z" was all the rage. Antz, Dogz, and Atomz come to mind)."

frandroid 12y ago

Names don't matter if you have a good product, unless you create brand confusion (Windows Live Messenger, anyone?). I thought "Google" was the stupidest name, and I still don't find it attractive.

switz 12y ago

While the name is not perfect, I don't believe it is as dramatic as you are making it out to be http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz http://www.fogcreek.com/fogbugz

onion2k 12y ago
If you're Joel Spolsky you can release a piece of software with any name you care to choose and people will still take it seriously because you have earned the respect of your peers. Other people who don't have decades of experience producing exceptional software don't have the same luxury. Fogbugz is a terrible name and if an unknown developer had released it there's a good chance too few people would have looked at it for it to get the necessary traction it needed to succeed. It really isn't an example of something people should follow.
- mdemare 12y ago
  Also, people who can't pronounce voiced consonants at the end of syllables (such as german, dutch, french people) can't help but hear it as FuckBugs. "Ve still neet a buck trecker, I vas finking about Jira, or do you haef a better idea?" "Yes, I recommend FuckBugs!"
  - onion2k 12y ago
    To be fair though, FuckBugs would be a brilliant name for a bug tracker.
    - thebouv 12y ago
      Let's build it. In BrainFuck.
- rmc 12y ago
  FogBugz was released in Nov 2000. How big was Joel Spolsky then? (It's before my time.) It looks like Joel was hardly blogging when FogBugz was released ( http://joelonsoftware.com/backIssues.html http://joelonsoftware.com/backIssues.html )
  - GarethX 12y ago
    To be fair, as early as 2004 he had this to say on the name: "Yeah, it's not an ideal name... But the brand equity is already worth significantly more than the cost of having a yucky name... (There was a period for about 6 months when "Z" was all the rage. Antz, Dogz, and Atomz come to mind)."