In the beginning was the Word

I have been working on my first own application since a few weeks, and it is taking good shape; a first version should be available for willing testers soon. But as technical issues get resolved, I move into more unchartered territory. Should it be open-source, or proprietary? Should I trademark anything? And… how should it be called? The current code name for the project, “Blue Lobster”, isn’t quite right for a serious professional application. My initial thought was “Akin”, as in “essentially similar, related, or compatible”, and I was pleased to find out that no piece of software with a similar name was listed in the US patent and Trademark database.

Alas, Google wasn’t quite as lenient, and the search query “akin + software” yielded quite a trove, including enterprise resource planning systems and a Christian verse reminder system, “For those of you out there that are trying to memorize bible verses”. I don’t think we are direct competitors, but I would still prefer to have a unique, distinctive name for my application, if such a thing is possible in the Google age. I think I found it today – some more Googling, a few more bug fixes, and the alpha-release should be out by May first!