I think the name "Cockroach" was a really poor decision from a marketing standpoint. The team intended to convey durability, since cockroaches can live through anything. But when I think of a cockroach, I think, gross, disgusting, etc.
It's memorable. So if the product is really excellent and is needed by customers - then I think it could be a boon.
I mean Mongo has very bad associations for me in terms of childhood taunts and Blazing Saddles...but now the name really relates more to the product than to the original meaning.
The difference is that "mongo" does not have a universally-known meaning. Cockroaches and known throughout the world, and are disgusting throughout the world.
> I mean Mongo has very bad associations for me in terms of childhood taunts and Blazing Saddles...but now the name really relates more to the product than to the original meaning.
The difference is that the word "mongo" is an issue of the same word having different meanings in different dialects. Whereas, with "cockroach", it's the same intended meaning, but with different connotations.
Agreed. It's a very stupid name. It's memorable for all the wrong reasons: It detracts from the product, and takes attention away from the product to the product name that elicits a visceral disgust in a lot of people. The conversation then is about why the product is called that instead of the product's merits.
On second thought I’m not sure. Everyone will call it RoachDB
for short anyway, but the full name has more impact. It shocks, which is a good thing. I was so focused on aesthetics that I didn’t even consider strategy.
They can always spin off “RoachDB” as an enterprise option, if they have any problems with selling it due to name.
This isn't the place to find out, but I'm curious as to the relative ratio of people who have this reaction.
I don't, at all - I'm vaguely positive towards the name, but in general don't care what things are called, so long as I can remember it. (Although I still maintain that "Paypal" is the stupidest name ever.)
I know people exist who will avoid things simply because they react negatively to the name. How prevalent is this? This isn't about overall product aesthetics/ergonomics/etc., just the name.
You're going to have a hard time convincing nontechnical managements they need to go with Cockroach instead of Oracle.
It's unfortunate the world works that way, but nevertheless, it works that way.
It could be the best database in the world. They did a real disservice to themselves by naming it after a bug people typically associate with filth, disease, and germs.
it's not at all unfortunate that the world works that way. What's really unfortunate is the founder of this seemingly great database system has decided to not care about how human psychology works.
Here's an Wikipedia excerpt on cockroach:
> They feed on human and pet food and can leave an offensive odor.[60] They can passively transport pathogenic microbes on their body surfaces, particularly in environments such as hospitals.[61][62] Cockroaches are linked with allergic reactions in humans.[63][64] One of the proteins that trigger allergic reactions is tropomyosin.[65] These allergens are also linked with asthma.[66] About 60% of asthma patients in Chicago are also sensitive to cockroach allergens. Studies similar to this have been done globally and all the results are similar. Cockroaches can live for a few days up to a month without food, so just because no cockroaches are visible in a home does not mean they are not there. Approximately 20-48% of homes with no visible sign of cockroaches have detectable cockroach allergens in dust.[67]
Human psychology is on their side, people just don't seem to understand it. Which is fine, most people are not marketing experts. FYI, it doesn't actually matter how much you dislike the name, but when the time comes to make a choice between a silly negative name but unusual and very memorable because of that and between something boring you have seen just as much, you will trust the silly name more. And since database choice for most people is purely dogmatic one - the name gives Cockroach a slight competitive advantage (at the stage they are in).
Cockroaches are figuratively unkillable; resilient and survive in nuclear wastelands. I think the team was going for something like: you put your data in here and it will survive basically anything but a multi-continent nuclear war
But if there were two similar products, one named Roach, I would go with the other without much thought. The name is horrible. As long as they are the king of whatever they do, they can call themselves whatever they want, but handing competitors an automatic naming advantage did not have to be the case.
The point is that is doesn't work. Yes, the name makes the product stand out but that benefit doesn't compensate for having your product associated with filth and disease.
There's a reason Toyota has never named a car 'The Cockroach' and a soft drink company has never released 'Cockroach Cola'.
If you make technology stack decisions based on your feelings rather than what the product actually does, then you shouldn't be employed as a decision-maker.
Feelings become reality. People care about what things are called. You just don't care because it doesn't bother you. But if it was a topic you were sensitive about or something you feel is inappropriate, you would feel otherwise. Everyone has their limits of what is going too far. It's almost as if we live in a society with people from different backgrounds. What this really hits on is subjective relativism, and that's dangerous for an entire society to operate on. Maybe Cockroach isn't that bad, maybe it grosses some people out. Fine, not that big of a deal here. What if it was called "BondageDB"?
My point was that the job of a technology decision-maker is to make decisions on the actual technical merits of various options, the costs and tradeoffs thereof.
If you are in that role, and you permit the name of a vendor to trump the actual merits of the vendor's product, you should never have been trusted with decision-making authority in the first place, and any competitors who don't harbor your particular emotional hangups will get the better of you, and you won't be long for your position anyway.
Cockroach Labs is not selling to the end-consumer. They're selling to people whose job it is to behave like Vulcans. In this particular market, it doesn't matter what the name is.
