discussion: Regarding the "MicroG RE" repo branding

[ILoveOpenSourceApplications]

Discussion

I noticed certain inconsistencies within the repo that I thought I should bring some attention to. Right now, the repo itself, in the readme, and internal app name string, all of them uses MicroG RE. The updated issue templates for feature request and bug report files uses microG RE and in some of the internal code there's microG due to the upstream repo, which is understandable as this is a fork.

Now there's two naming styles being used here and one need to be used consistently.

1. MicroG RE: Follow the repo name throughout.
2. microG RE: Use the upstream styling for "microG" and follow that throughout.

Acknowledgements

• I have checked all open and closed bug reports and this is not a duplicate.

[ILoveOpenSourceApplications]

Also, does RE stand for redesign?

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

The lack of an uppercase first letter makes "microG" as the first word of a sentence read weird, but that's inherent to the name GmsCore chose for it.

The patches strings uses "microG" as an ordinary noun and not a proper noun. That means using "microG" everywhere except when it's the first word of a sentence and then it's "MicroG". I'm unsure if this is the correct approach but it does make the strings look and read normally without the inherit weirdness that upstream GmsCore created with it's unconventional grammar.

[WSTxda]

Well, I'm not actually sure if "microG" or "MicroG" is correct at the moment, Since the upstream is called "GmsCore" and this persists in the Morphe patches, any change I would make would be to rename it to GmsCore.

Does this seem like the most correct approach to you as well?

I named it "MicroG" because of the old Vanced, and i changed the sentence because it seemed more grammatically correct. It's also quite rare for someone to use "GmsCore" to refer to it.

[WSTxda]

Also, does RE stand for redesign?

Exactly

[WSTxda]

Personally, I have no problem changing that, but since the topic is branding, renaming it to "GmsCore" or "microG" might be a bit negative, as well as changing its icon.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

I personally think it's better to always refer to the app as microG / MicroG and not GmsCore, because users overwhelmingly refer to the app as microG.

The patches instructions to disable battery optimization must refer to it as microG because that's the name of the app the user must change the settings for.

[WSTxda]

In that case, can we keep it?

I think "microG" and "microG RE" are particularly strange. Although if we consider the fork, it's is correct.

It's a strange if you see it in the device launcher, for example.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

Yes I think we should keep it.

Because of the huge recognition of the existing microG, I don't think that should change. Even microG RE has it's own recognition because it's more than just upstream microG with some internal changes.

It is strange to see a lowercase name in the launcher, but that's the name of the app and it's what users recognize.

At most I think we should decide how and when to use microG / microG RE and when to use MicroG / MicroG RE (if we use it anywhere at all).

I think the most conservative is if microG appears as the first word of a following sentence (Hi there. MicroG is great!), then use MicroG / MicroG RE. Otherwise use the lowercase name everywhere else (Hi there. I think microG is great!). We can minimize the uppercase usage by trying to re-word sentences so microG isn't the first word.

[ILoveOpenSourceApplications]

We also call the patch GmsCore support, so shouldn't that be taken into consideration as well?

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

I would like to call it microG support or some other name that uses microG - preferably where microG is not the first word of the patch name.

But all existing guides refer to it as GmsCore. Maybe we can change this now since the project is still so new, and the common mistake of excluding the patch is handled by Manager simple patching because it choses if should be included or not depending on root status.

[WSTxda]

@ILoveOpenSourceApplications @LisoUseInAIKyrios We can change all MicroG resources to microG and keep MicroG RE.

We also started using MicroG RE as the name displayed on the launcher. When we refer to "MicroG RE", we are only talking about this fork. Since this branding is unique, we're keeping the capital M.

I want to maintain this consistency.

Also need to change it on patches.

MicroG > microG

GmsCore > microG

Suggestion:

microG
Open the microG settings

From this point on, it could be the MicroG RE or any other alternative.

[WSTxda]

All crowdin settings can be kept, only the bug report adjusted to MicroG RE.

[LisoUseInAIKyrios]

Ok that sounds good. I'll make the patches changes you described.

For now we can keep the GmsCore support patch name just for better compatibility with older guides. There isn't much to gain renaming it because the home page patching doesn't show any patch names.