They don't need to know - if they care, they can learn. How many people knew what "ubuntu" meant before the Ubuntu distribution? How many people know what "ubuntu" means now?

agreed - but the problem is two fold. I can say ubuntu to a person on the street and they remember it, because the word is phonetically easy. Libre isnt.

Again, this is not about branding - "libre" is a word that is extremely difficult to pronounce, read and remember for a lot of asians.

What dialects would have the most difficulty? Is it the 'L', or the 'BR'?

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.

its the "BRE".

LibOffice would be infinitely better in terms of pronounciation.

...then that just sounds like its a library of word processing and spreadsheet utilities that exposes nothing buy an API.

Not that anyone who would use the root and assume is a library wouldn't already know better, but just sayin :)

liberal office, the hated enemy of every single self respecting conservative /s