Am I the only one who laments this trend of using a common first name as a product name? When I see this, my first reaction is that the company lacks any empathy for people who have the name they're co-opting.
Not sure about the “rude” part. It really depends on the person. But yes, it can get annoying rally fast. Therefore “shitty” indeed. But yeah, I do think it is very cheezy and lazy when companies do this. When I talked to someone that worked there, I guess it was because of the hard constant “X” -it would make a better Hollywood movie if they said Artificial. Language. Expanded. Xenomorphic. Amplified. A. L. E. X. A.
Devin comes from "dev in chat", a common phrase in livestream chat rooms to signal that the developer of the game or product being showcased was present.
The short version of my name is one letter away from "Alexa". You can imagine how many comments and jokes about Amazon's AI assistant I've been party to for the past decade. Although it may be hard for you to believe I actually don't really care, much as you probably don't care about the hot dogs bearing your name that you see when you walk down the cold aisle in the grocery store. Should they instead call the anthropomorphized AI assistant something like "W'rkncacnter" to preclude the possibility of name collisions (chaotic entities imprisoned in alien stars notwithstanding)?
My Japanese mom always thought it was weird to put peoples names to destructive forces like hurricanes. I think she said in Japan use some numbering system (might be as simple as incrementing, I don't remember).
It appears your name is Alex, so I'm not surprised that the Alexa product name doesn't bother you. I suspect you would feel different if your name was Alexa. If the product was named Nate, it would bother me. There are plethora of other options for product names that companies can use besides common first names.
I think it's different when the product is an tool you call by name to use vs just the name of the tool. E.g. the article is about "Alexa" and I'm not sure most people even realize there are ways to use it without saying "Hey Alexa" every time. Without that type of callback association it's not a very serious concern.
I don't care about it potentially being a real name, because I doubt it would be a household item, but somehow the name itself for this particular product seems offputting.
If it had to be a name for a product, it seems like to give me some sort of cheap male grooming or AXE body spray product vibes.
slickdork|1 year ago
Buttons840|1 year ago
At least our names got attached to an upstanding product, and one that is likely to languish and fail. We're not the next "Alexa", I hope.
arockwell|1 year ago
stuckkeys|1 year ago
wpm|1 year ago
alexjplant|1 year ago
psygn89|1 year ago
ben_w|1 year ago
Bold move, but imagine the patch notes:
• Fixed bug where assistant attempted to unmake the fabric of reality
• Resolved issue where “Set alarm for 7 AM” triggered a rampancy cascade
• Improved pronunciation of “Lh’owon” for calendar appointments
Probably still a better bet than Durandal, definitely an improvement over Tycho.
And then there was Leela…
binarynate|1 year ago
nprateem|1 year ago
zamadatix|1 year ago
mewpmewp2|1 year ago
If it had to be a name for a product, it seems like to give me some sort of cheap male grooming or AXE body spray product vibes.
decGetAc|1 year ago
I don't like first name product names for other reasons but not because they share a name with humans named the same
bravetraveler|1 year ago
Just having fun. I see what you mean and vaguely support it... I just won't lose anything over it
Cataleya|1 year ago
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hiatus|1 year ago
edit:
> Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.
> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.