Tags: After news a few weeks ago of our new investment and the beta of the hosted version of our ad server software, we’ve got more news to share. We did it again, we’ve changed the name of Openads to OpenX.
In the past few months we have spent lots of time with folk in our publisher community to understand better what you want from us. Simply, you want us to make it easier for you to make money online. We’ve already started, launching the beta of the hosted version of our software which we’re scaling as fast as possible to meet the overwhelming demand we see (publishers from over 60 countries have signed up for the beta program!).
This is just the first example of how we plan to move with our publishers beyond our core open source ad serving software. That will always be our heart and soul. But as we start to roll out our hosted service and look towards the future, we thought the time was right to evolve our name to reflect the suite of services we hope one day to offer our publisher community.
Find out more:
Scott has posted a consolidated FAQ about the changes.
[...] just changed its name to OpenX. OpenadsX is one of my top open-source software picks, given its potential to roil the ad server [...]
Pingback by Openads becomes OpenX - What's in a name? | Site Toolkit — February 15, 2008 @ 11:57 am
Don’t get me wrong, but this is most stupid decision you made. phpAds, phpAdsNew, phpPgAds, Max Media Manager, OpenAds, OpenX…. When it will stop?
And this new design, this graphics at top… it’s like for some kids’ site.
OpenAds brand and look of site were just as they should be for this product, I don’t understand why you did this.
Comment by Milan Dinić — February 15, 2008 @ 4:04 pm
Absolutely loved Openads and its predecessors phpads various versions, the name change from phpads to Openads made sense, Openads was the perfect name and the site looked great, very professional and modern. I must say I am also completely baffled by the change and agree with the previous poster the site looks like a kid’s site.
Comment by user since phpads — February 15, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
[...] just changed its name to OpenX. OpenadsX is one of my top open-source software picks, given its potential to roil the ad server [...]
Pingback by news.buysellrealestate.com.au » Blog Archive » Openads becomes OpenX - What’s in a name? — February 15, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
This was a stupid decision. Sounds more like a porn site now! “Come see Jenna Jameson and Mr. Marcus in OpenX”!! Good job there guys…NOT!!
Comment by dougeetx.com — February 15, 2008 @ 5:58 pm
Time to watch your siX. Don’t understand why you’re crunching your brand this way. Let me guess: Next step will be an urgent upgrade again with very important security issues just to change your logo within OpenAds ugh OpenX next version. Sorry, but this is realy a bad lesson for publishers!
Comment by roadshopper — February 15, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Agreed. You guys need to stop changing names and appearances. Do what you want with the company, but for goodness sake you don’t need to rebrand every time it changes hands. This is a REMARKABLY stupid-looking upgrade that has more resemblance to a clown-party than a professional banner implementation/reporting tool…
Yes, I said CLOWN PARTY
It’s actually quite astounding that you didn’t get flamed for this during the development cycle. My goodness, did you show this to ANYONE??? I personally am holding off my upgrade for as long as possible.
Mind-blowing. Simply mind-blowing.
Comment by Clint DeBoer — February 15, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
What was wrong with OpenAds? You know: OPEN source AD Serving — made sense to me…
OpenX sounds like the name of a company from a cartoon.
TTFN
Travis
Comment by Travis — February 15, 2008 @ 8:10 pm
I hope for the love of G*d you didn’t pay for the rebranding. Can we keep the same name within our own hosted server? I really don’t like the idea of being branded a porn advertizer! I too agree, clown? Some real big decisions must of been made here.
Comment by Steve Dorrington — February 15, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
You did a 302 temporarily redirect from http://www.openads.org to http://www.openx.org
If you need to permanently redirect a domain name to another, the only command that is accepted and sanctioned by all search engines is a “301 Permanently Moved” command.
I think you can get some problems now…
Comment by Johan — February 16, 2008 @ 12:16 am
Seriously peeps - this is one massive clattering screwball decision..
You now look like a second rate and amateurish outfit and having been an phpadsnew/openads user for several years now, if you force your new name and new logo onto MYsite for MY advertisers to wonder about - no upgrades for me!!
Listen to your loyal customers and (yes, guess what - we’re PUBLISHERS as well) - wind back the name and develop a grown up & professional logo and website theme.
Don’t you guys want to look as though you know what you’re talking about???
Comment by Mike — February 16, 2008 @ 12:36 am
[...] Though how this effect it’s users still remains a question, but the whole of the OpenAds’ site has undergone a major change both in design and name. The website has been officially renamed http://www.openx.org/. The official blog post can be read here http://blog.openx.org/02/openads-rebrands-as-openx/. [...]
Pingback by GamingX » Blog Archive » OpenAds becomes OpenX — February 16, 2008 @ 12:44 am
No comment on the software, it’s great, but WTF! Yeez guys, come on! Not a name change again! OpenAds was the perfect name! And what happened to the professional design of the website? You make yourself look like people who can code great, but have no idea of the world (community) around…
In your post it says: “In the past few months we have spent lots of time with folk in our publisher community to understand better what you want from us.”
Well, analyzing all previous reactions, ‘understanding the community’ isn’t something you’re really great at…
Comment by Xavier — February 16, 2008 @ 1:15 am
April Fools’ Day is not arrived yet.
Sorry but it was not a good idea at all…
Comment by xen — February 16, 2008 @ 5:43 am
Please, please, please
take a fee for OpenAds.
But keep the brand!
And forget about X.
Comment by Made in Germany — February 16, 2008 @ 9:52 am
I agree with the “clown party” comments, I can’t present this solution to serious business customers if your website looks like this garbage.
It doesn’t reflect the stability of OpenAds … I know it’s hard to tell venture capitalists no, but focus on improving the platform rather than the “brand.”
Real advertising networks don’t buy “brand” they buy solid solutions. I’d rather you look like Real Media OAS, Double Click, or Ad-juggler, than the other smaller platforms out there.
Look at your positioning, small and midsized businesses want to use the expensive solutions but know they are out of reach, if you’re going to be middle of the road, then look it. Drop the “clown party” and go back to the “OpenAds” look — “Open Advertising Management” is a better fit.
Comment by Justin Hitt — February 16, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Yes! I also preferred the old OpenAds website and of course the name too! OpenAds described perfectly what the product was: an open ad server! Not a free adult content website or something like X… !!!
Comment by Chanlô — February 16, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
OpenAds was the perfect name! And what happened to the professional design of the website?
Comment by NARIMAN GHARIB — February 16, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
[...] Vor einem Monat bekam OpenAds zusätzliches Geld, um die Weiterentwicklung ihres Bannermanagmentsystem schneller voranzutreiben. Jetzt wurde der Name des Open-Source-Projekts von OpenAds in OpenX umgetauft. [...]
Pingback by DimidoBlog » Aus AdServer OpenAds wird OpenX — February 16, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Gotta say — I don’t care what the website looks like. I don’t even care about the name. Call it “Bob Goes To The Zoo” for all I care. Just make sure the software works and don’t make us change every time it occurs to you guys to change your name, which seems to be rather frequently.
Comment by Dave — February 17, 2008 @ 2:51 am
I have to agree with others here.
Please listen to everyone here and stop changing your name already! Volkswagon is not a great name for a brand but VW kept with their name and made it mean something. Your constant name changing just makes it harder and harder for people to take you seriously. There was nothing wrong with OpenAds.
Imagine that you knew a person who every time to saw him he would tell you that he just changed his name. It doesn’t matter if his new name sounds nicer than his old one, you just won’t be able to take him seriously. OpenAds has name good name recognition. It will take 5 years of continuous use of OpenX just to make people take you as seriously as they took OpenAds a week ago.
I personally like the new design I just think you got it all wrong with the name change. Just change the name back but keep the new design.
One design suggestion: make the yellow links next to support a bit darker as they are very hard to read. Not everyone has very good eyesight or properly calibrated monitors.
Comment by Damascity — February 17, 2008 @ 6:49 am
First off, I don’t really care about the name, although I preferred OpenAds - and preferred the look and feel of the old site. Secondly, most of the comments here I think are fairly indicative of people’s reaction to change - and the strong reaction is to be expected, as OpenAds (and its predecessors) worked so well for very many people.
However, my main concern here is around one of community. Are OpenX now prioritising their ambition to build the business over and above the requirements of people who’ve both relied on and developed this platform as a great bit of open source? If so, I wonder if the hosted solution is the thin end of a thick wedge, and that the next change we’ll see will be the dropping of the ‘Open’ bit from the name…
Comment by Alick Mighall — February 17, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
Just stop it, ok? I guess you can’t rebrand back to OpenAds (which is a pity), but - don’t do it anymore. It is confusing and annoying.
What was the reason for rebranding anyway? New manager who wanted to leave his mark somewhere? Bad move… Very bad move.
Comment by Andrew — February 17, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
I have to agree with others here …
Why you did this ?
OpenAds was great name.
And new design … terrible
Damascity :
>> One design suggestion: make the yellow links next to support a bit darker as they are very hard to read. Not
>> everyone has very good eyesight or properly calibrated monitors.
Me too
P.S.
Still working with openx …
user
Comment by user — February 17, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
Ha, ha, nobody from OpenAds, sorry, OpenX did some response here. And also I don’t see any positive comment.
Comment by Milan Dinić — February 17, 2008 @ 10:28 pm
I think this is kindof like when Ford renamed the Taurus.
Comment by wacnstac — February 18, 2008 @ 2:39 am
I suggest to change the name to OpenA, instead of OpenX. “A” comes from “Ad” or “Ads”, but “X” I don’t know from where comes.
The new design of web site is nice, is more happy than the former OpenAds site design. I like that the pages from the OpenX software have white background, at the top of the pages in demo, instead of dark blue at the former OpenAds software.
What is really important for me is not the name, the brand, the site design, but … the performance of the software.
My sites have in total over 30.000.000 impressions on a day, and my server is not enough. Maybe I’ll try with a new server with a better processor, to see if can handle the traffic with the new OpenX. And I’ll wait for the hosted version.
For people that complain about the OpenX logo: you can change that logo from the left upper corner with your web site logo, so the advertisers will not see OpenX. Also the address mysite.com/openx can be changed to mysite/adserver.
Comment by itsme — February 18, 2008 @ 9:42 am
You have a great product (and had a great name which made sense)! Why the need for a new name, with substandard design and poor branding. (Reminds me of the Royal Mail / Consignia fiasco and the BA funky tailfins disaster).
What was your new investment, a suitcase of monopoly money? Please refrain from using the art class of the local primary school for your next name change and redesign.
Comment by noddy — February 18, 2008 @ 10:51 am
[...] Ventures. So I’m sure they’ll be delighted at the comments on the company’s blog which are universally condemning. Some choice quotes for you: This is a REMARKABLY stupid-looking [...]
Pingback by TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » OpenAds: How to burn $20m on a clown logo — February 18, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Thanks for your comments, this is very useful for us.
We have posted answers to your comments in a new post this morning. We are also getting in touch with some of you to get suggestions and further feedback.
Comment by Melany Libraro — February 18, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Melany, first off, thank you for this great software. Although I think OpenX is and the new theme are off-contextual, you should bear in mind that people are affected by flock mentality. It means it only takes a few bad comments to spawn the whole long thread of bad comments. Had the very first people posted good comments, there would be a long string of positive comments. Reference: http://www.zmescience.com/scientists-point-out-our-flock-mentality
Frankly, these changes will not matter at all in the near future. I will have to make myself familiar with it. But I do hope everything is going upward with lots of improvements.
To all people who posted harsh comments, OpenX is free open source project. Most of you are generating profits because of who? The OpenX team. Without them, you would have used some crappy software that might takes away 30% of your revenue through sharing scheme, or you would have stuck with open specific network ads. You owe your apologies to OpenX team!
Comment by Neo — February 19, 2008 @ 3:12 am
Sad that you changed from the great name OpenAds to now OpenX.
OpenAds is a perfect name for what the software is all about. Immediately people can recognize and understand from the name. Makes perfect sense.
OpenX? Yeah…I agree with commenters above that it sounds like porn…from Ads to X? Bad move.
Comment by ShaShinKi.com — February 19, 2008 @ 5:15 am
[...] have re-branded to OpenX, you can read the full story here but the more interesting fact is when will they re-brand again? So far they have re-branded a [...]
Pingback by Profit Baron dot Com — February 21, 2008 @ 12:43 am
Why in god’s name you have renamed the project? Openads was sucha n good name for an open adserver project!
Comment by Olaf — February 21, 2008 @ 5:51 pm
[...] OpenAds have re-branded (Again) over to OpenX. Recently OpenX has received significant investment, and it seems that this has helped this latest move towards another rebranding of their organization. [...]
Pingback by OpenAds Moves to OpenX | Tony Bevilacqua — February 25, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
It is challenging to arrive at the right brand that expresses your business. Now that you are “A Business”. What a lotta unhappy vibe on the new look and name.
Suggest you do consider an “Umbrella” corporate name, then go back to OpenAds for this important niche product/project. This is a common branding strategy that does many great things. For one it keeps the focus of this project, well focused. It also allows you to do many other niche products/services all under the umbrella brand.
Happy to help if you have any questions about how to do that precisely, but it appears you have a bunch of great minds at the table.
Keep up the great work on this great product! (which is the underlying sentiment being expressed in a less than joyful fashion overall)
Comment by Ed Phelps — March 19, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
My main question in all this is still: Is this proposed new form of advertising relevance-based? Frankly, these days I am seeing more and more graphical ads by Google (on Facebook for example) that have nothing whatsoever to do with the content of the page, and even less to do with what is relevant to me, what I wish to find. I think openx is preparing to join google.
Comment by estetik — March 24, 2008 @ 6:37 am
Thanks for your comments, this is very useful for us.
We have posted answers to your comments in a new post this morning. We are also getting in touch with some of you to get suggestions and further feedback.
Comment by otogaz — March 30, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
[...] Openads rebrands as OpenX, OpenX Blog, James Bilefield (Blog) [...]
Pingback by 451 CAOS Theory » 451 CAOS Links - 2008.02.19 — June 10, 2008 @ 9:29 am
OpenX is the new name for Openads…
Yesterday the Openads OpenX team announced a new name for their company and the software. OpenX is the name now, and they say it’s not going to change again. If you’ve changed your name once, what’s stopping you from doing it again? N…
Trackback by OpenX tips by Erik Geurts — June 24, 2008 @ 11:56 am
Thanks for your comments, this is very useful for us.
We have posted answers to your comments in a new post this morning. We are also getting in touch with some of you to get suggestions and further feedback.
Comment by oyun — October 19, 2008 @ 8:21 am
What about tag pages? I’m finding that alot of my traffic is coming from tag pages. I didn’t see any settings for true/false with regard to tag pages. Thx.
Comment by Plastik cerrahi — October 22, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
Question though, lets say I wanted to display text to the right of the big image when I click on the thumbnail. Like, it would be a description of the picture. How would I do that?
Comment by Evkur — December 12, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
We have posted answers to your comments in a new post this morning. We are also getting in touch with some of you to get suggestions and further feedback.
Comment by radyo dinle — April 21, 2009 @ 6:16 pm
thanks for you..!
Comment by bedava mp3 indir — May 3, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
thanks for contribution. very nice and useful article..
Comment by assos — May 18, 2009 @ 7:02 pm