Wow...good to see a largely technical group of folks having this marketing discussion!
Ok...first off I have to respond to the latest post. A seal?!? Youdo know what a seal looks like right? It's that thing that balances a ball on it's nose? Oh well...guess I'm a little attached to that logo (Eve likes it...that's good enough for me darnnit! :) )
I too like the name OACS, but as far as it being pronouced "Oaks" well...you're going to run into troubles without having oaks.com owned. Also, kill the idea of any domain names with a "-" in them...VERY unprofessional.
Having had to sell the OpenACS a NUMBER of times I've never ONCE had any client ask about aD. I really don't think they have much market share. To be completely honest I think we could stick with OpenACS and have it not mean ANYTHING!
It seems to me we have two discussions going on here...a rename for the "company" and a rename for the "product". If that is the case, we could rename only one of them if that would help. This thread has become extremely long and cumbersome. I just stumbled across it a day ago so maybe I haven't read correctly, but is there an impending legal reason to change the name(s)? Or just a perceived marketing issue?
As a marketing type person I would advise against a rename unless it is REALLY (i.e. legally) necessary. But, I'm glad to redesign the logo...I can make it look like a seal if you want. ;)
Scott