New name: “NGEDIT Software” is now “Symnum Systems”. And more.
“NGEDIT Software” has a new name: “Symnum Systems S.L.”. Properly incorporated this week (NGEDIT Software was a DBA). “S.L.” is the Spanish equivalent for the US LLC or the UK “Ltd.”, a limited liability entity. My always-in-the-works-text-editor won’t be called NGEDIT anymore, and I didn’t really like it as the company name, so I’m happy to have changed to this new name. I’m also happy to have the business incorporated now, being able to separate personal and business affairs better.
The new name comes from the frontier of the symbolic and the numeric. The numeric is that which exists, but you cannot see. The symbolic is that which you can see, but it really doesn’t exist. This has had me fascinated for years.
Apart from the new name, and the new legal entity, everything else remains the same. I am the sole owner, and plan to remain so, so nothing of material relevance to customers changes.
I’ll now move to the new name gradually. It’s quite a bit of work: mail addresses, references in different places, keeping old URLs working somehow, etc… I’ll probably keep this blog with its current name (while all other uses will disappear). NGEDIT is a software entrepreneurial project, for over 4 years now, and this blog is where I’m sharing all the information and all the stages. I think it’s fitting to keep the name: “The growing pains of NGEDIT”. The name change is one of the many growing pains.
On other fronts: the new licensing system is fully done (key generation on the server, integration with Plimus, key checking in the app, UI to enter the key, etc…). I only have to apply it to all the 4 products, and then, the other “biggy”, I have to transition all existing users to the new system. I’m doing this with a new customer area that is half-done. This is the part that will still take some effort. But I’m hopeful it will be useful for many other things: special offers, better customer support, extra customer benefits, etc…
Also, all my sites were down for many hours yesterday. It was a problem with A Small Orange web hosting, which was hacked. I’ve stopped other things, and I’m implementing a long-due auto-web-deployment system to allow moving easily. It will also allow me to update the web more frequently, by reducing friction. It should be ready quickly.
Feel free to comment on the new name, I’ll be happy to hear your feedback.
July 11th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Congratulations on the upgrade — seems like things are going well.
One thing I wonder about with this or any other product from a sole-proprietor is whether there are contingent provisions for product continuation in the event that you become unable to continue.
Certainly I and many others want to see you continue to develop (especially ViEmu in my case), but I’m just concerned about what would happen if you couldn’t do that anymore, whether due to (heaven forbid) illness or death.
Would the source code go open-source, be auctioned off, or is there a potential successor in place?
Tools of this value must persist!
July 13th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Jay, thanks for the congratulatory message.
About what would happen, I’ve already gotten this question two or three times. I will think about doing something soon and post here. I doubt it will involve open source, but it will involve somehow establishing the steps to not leave everyone high and dry in any event. Let me think about what the best way to do this is.
August 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I like the new name, I’d love to see how the editor turns out. I’ll sign up to be notified.
August 10th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Thanks Tobi, I’ve had some doubts, but I’m liking the name more and more myself.