It’s been interesting to watch the launch of OSM (Open Source Media), formally Pajamas Media, this past week. As with the launch of any new blogging network (of sorts) there is always a mix of critique, hype, spin and debate. One of the debates that I’m seeing more and more in the threads that I watch is that over the name – Open Source Media.
There is a debate over use of the term between the Pajama Media OSM and another one – a radio show. Check out the Radio OSM’s posts at Open Source Media: In Case You’re Confused, The Name Problem, Part II and The Name Problem Part III.
The PJ OSM responded with OSM – About our Name.
Plenty of others have waded into the debate of course (the PJ OSM have some pretty major league bloggers – so it’s a high profile project). You can look at some of the critiques of the name problem at Buzz Machine, Private Radio and Anit-Idiotarian Rottweiller.
So it seems things could be escalating into ‘fiasco land’. I have to say I was surprised by them not choosing a name that they could get a .com domain for. It is of course challenging to get one these days for something that makes sense but perhaps in hindsight it would have been better.
Hopefully they can sort it out and get back to promoting their business plan rather than getting sidetracked distracting aspects like this. In the mean time – it’s a lesson for all of us in choosing names wisely.
update: I think this post by Jeff Jarvis is spot on the money – it contains advice that I think OSM should take action on. Nice work Jeff.
Amen to that. And the same thing can happen with logos. In the ’70s, NBC paid nearly a million for their new logo, only to find out a Midwest public television station had the exact same design, for which they paid $35.
Actually, when I first heard of their existence, I thought “Pajamas Media” was an interesting name. I’m sure other SOHO and individuals who blog might agree that there are many days that we get wrapped up in our work or hobby, that it’s well after lunch until we get out of our own pajamas and take a shower, do our banking, go to post office, get a life .. – Or .. is that just me?
The whole deal with the name is this: The name doesn’t work for them. Go back to being the Pajama Bandits or whatever. I like Pajamas Media better. I don’t understand why they don’t go back.
Well to be fair they do own the domain http://www.opensourcemedia.com. I personally don’t think this online radio site has a case because they openly admit to abandoning the .net domain.
Metro Crowded, Fed Retirement, Cold Thanksgiving, Pajamas Media
If you’re looking for elbow room when you ride the Metro during rush hour, you may be out of luck.Metro officials say ridership is up considerably from the same time last year and the trains are only expected to get…
Actually, what Open Source Media, the radio folks, said was the stopped direct use of the URL opensourcemedia.net. However, they did not abandon the URL but redirected it to http://www.radioopensource.org/.
This is a huge screw up for the former Pajamas Media and their response to criticism is poorly managed. This is one more amatuerish move in a string of amatuerish moves.
They’ve now backed off and changed back to pajamas
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