At least they didn't name it some common noun like element or matrix or signal or whatever
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2026
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One of my biggest pet peaves is products/services/projects being named common nouns.
is Nura the singular form of Nuru, the massages I keep wondering about?
Nice
it's on Tubu. It's literally on Heebee. It's on Poodee with ads. It's literally on Dippy. You can probably find it on Weeno. Dude it's on Gumpy. It's a Pheebo original. It's on Poob. You can watch it on Poob. You can go to Poob and watch it. Log onto Poob right now.
Exactly what it sounded like when I learned there's a Firefox fork called Floorp
Poob has it for you
i won't stand for this poob slander. my chair is comfy.
I welcome the change. PostmarketOS doesn't really roll off the tongue
No, but it was a helluva lot more obvious what it was. I guess I understand their reasoning, but it's yet another obscure name among the innumerable ones out there already.
Do you really think anyone would see the name "postmarketOS" and right away think this is a Linux distro for phones? Perhaps the "-OS" part gives it away that it's some kind of OS, but so are a lot of projects that end with "-OS".
For example: ReactOS, RedoxOS, ChibiOS, MicroOS, TempleOS. Can you really look at any of these names without knowing beforehand and tell what it is about?
GrapheneOS doesn't instill the same view either. I think post market was better fit than this more obscure name.
I did not say people immediately get that GrapheneOS is a secure phone OS just from the name. Adding "OS" to its name does not make it less obscure.
What even was the idea behind the original name? Was “Postmarket” meant to evoke aftermarket, as in an OS you install to replace the original OS that came with your device?
Basically, yes, but also not quite no. Market products offer you an initial baseline experience. Aftermarket products offer you an enhanced "better than the average" experience. Postmarket (or postconsumer) products are a de-growth mechanism by which you extend the life of your initial purchase beyond its planned obsolescence. There used to be a really great paper on creating circular economies that accounted for how in the reduce-reuse-recycle cycle our capitalist society has placed all emphasis on recycle when that's supposed to be the third order option behind reduce (consumption) and reuse (by extending the life of the products you already own) but I can't seem to find it anymore, but that paper was where the PostmarketOS name came from
i remember reading the abstract from that paper, so i'm sure it exists
TIL, thanks!
It is better, because postmarket seemed to suggest that the only goal is to make old devices usable again, while in fact its main goal is to provide a good alternative OS in general.
PostmarketOS seems to me like it's an OS made specifically for POS machines.
Point Of Service or Piece Of Sh*t machines?
Point Of Sales...
That was my question too 🤣
Good move.
Great call. I'm not sure if they should focus so heavily on the recycling theme. In the end, the goal is a superior Linux operating system for all phones, not just recyclable hardware. But the logo still looks pretty sleek.
Vrei să pleci dar nura nura iei
At first I wondered why, but after reading I think it's a fair change. I'm not sure how I feel about nura, but it's definitely fine.
Name is already taken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIPNw8Dnfo
Your name is already taken, too https://www.djangoproject.com/
Just kidding, I do agree this is a big issue.
Cool
i don't get it. their previous name was way better.
Have you read the article? If yes which aspects so you disagree with?
Edit: I don't want to change the original, but I didn't mean "did you read the article" as smart assert but as "is that a taste statement or something in relation to what they wrote?"
yes i did read it. the original name had pretty good recognition among linux nerds already, it's kinda long but usually shortened as pmOS so i don't see how problematic that is.
and the new name just seems too generic/unmemorable.. imagine you hear "postmarketOS running on Galaxy S10" and you instantly know its some alternate OS ported to that phone unlike "Nura on Galaxy S10". It doesn't even have "OS" in the name..
Thanks for the explanation! Makes sense to me - although I do understand their marketing and pronociation concerns.
I'm not sure where I stand myself so your point of view is very appreciated :)
Part of the problem with reading the article to explain it, is 99.999% of people will not read the article either.
Look at the other project names. They're technical and exciting.
Nura... sounds like a health bar, or a moisturizer, a cereal at best.
Postmarket was pretty bad, but it did kind of describe the point of the OS.
Nura, nature, nurture, maybe Neura would have been braincell adjacent.
Doesn't really matter, when it can drive a camera well and give me 18 hours of battery, i'll run it.
Agreed. "nura" is a bad name, whether it can be explained or not.
No? It wasn't? "The OS for your e-waste" isn't a good name for an OS this good. Also the old name was long, and with Google riling up FOSS advocates and annoying a good portion of normal users with their recent decisions, this is the perfect wave of criticism of Android and endorsement of alternatives to ride with some marketing.
I'd say the logo needs a redesign too.
edit: after reading the article, I think "Nurag" or "Nuragh" would've been better, but anything is better than the old name IMO.
Nurgle
"Wanna see my nurgle?"
Nurgle is the name someone gave the God of despair, decay, and what not? That's certainly something. Also compulsory: Nurgle on these nuts.
NURGLE
"Nurag" or "Nuragh"
Even worse than "Nura" and that wasn't easy to pull off.