This is not an untested axiom, it is a reality that I face. Most people understand even a highly accented "open office". OTOH, listen to these vastly different pronounciations of libre : http://www.forvo.com/word/temps_libre/ http://www.forvo.com/word/libre/
In addition, the first 3 pages of a google search for "free office" does not turn up libreoffice (the first hit is OpenOffice). I'm sure this can be fixed with a bit of SEO, but I'm afraid TDF isnt thinking about its target demographic: non techies.
Which non-native english speakers are you talking about?
My pronunciation (as a native english speaker) is pretty much like the spanish version I guess.
That said I don't think it's a particular fantastic name.
It's like the word "bazaar" - even if you say "baajaar", you will get most Indians to understand the meaning.
close to 90% asians will not even know the meaning of Libre even if you write it down.
Please understand, I am not debating the relative merit of using the word "open" as opposed to "libre" as a branding exercise - people just dont know what libre is.
Again, this is not about branding - "libre" is a word that is extremely difficult to pronounce, read and remember for a lot of asians.
Would LibOffice be better or about the same?
How about LibaOffice or LireOffice? (I know both 'li' and 'ba' or 're' are chinese syllables that can be written in pinyin.)
Even if they can't change, maybe there could be an official alt-name for native Asian-language speakers.
LibOffice would be infinitely better in terms of pronounciation.
Not that anyone who would use the root and assume is a library wouldn't already know better, but just sayin :)
And, for the average user, does it matter more that the software is 'open' (whatever that means), or that it is 'free'/'Free' (as hinted by Libre)?
I'd say Oracle did the fork a favor by zealously guarding the old trademark.