the finger-keyboard synapse

Choosing the right name the first time

I have some advice for anyone who thinks that they will ever be selling a product or service: name everything correctly the first time. As is evident on the new web site, quite a few things are being renamed in conjunction with BitWise 1.0.4:

• bitwisecommunications.com -> bitwiseim.com
  
• BitWise Chat -> BitWise IM
  
• Free BitWise -> BitWise Personal
  
• Professional BitWise -> BitWise Professional
  
• Pro Group -> Pro Network
  
• Group ID / Group # -> Network ID
  
• Chat Room -> Conference
  
• Pro Group Web Services -> Web Services (integrated with site)
  

Every instance of these phrases has to be changed on the web site, in email templates, and in the client. Considering that both the name and the web site of the service are changing, these changes are very far-reaching.

In the past, other wording changes have included buddy -> contact (also changing buddy list to contact list), tech docs -> whitepapers, chat -> conversation, Profile -> Directory Info, Status Profile -> Profile, Skins -> Themes, and more I probably can't remember.

Of course, being able to be omniscient and see everything coming down the pike would be a pretty neat trick, so it's not really possible to get everything right on the first pass. However, once you have something established, it can be difficult to ferret out all the references and make changes, and it can be a bit confusing for users too.

So to make this post more interesting, here's a question: are name changes confusing? Or are they OK as long as they make sense?

I abbreviated most of those things to "BitWise" or, in extreme cases, "BW" anyway, so they don't really matter to me.

I'm fine with it. phoenix -> firebird -> firefox, other products do it too.

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