[robk]

Part of the problem is the confusing naming. I'm an Android fan and I can't tell the difference between CyanogenMod, Cyanogen OS, Cyanogen Inc and Cyngn. Terrible way to run a business and project when it's too hard to separate out what they each do by a unique name.

[oliwarner]

The conflation was deliberate. They wanted to trade on the good name of the original open project.

[hackuser]

It was nothing sinister. Cyanogen himself, Steve Kondik, was the CEO of the new company. They were 100% open about it.

[mark_edward]

Once you've made a for profit enterprise, it's fundamentally deceptive to trade on the good will of things like volunteering, charity, add open source, because the incentive structure and relationship has changed. Someone selling me a OS for profit should be trusted far less than someone who does it for free and/or as a labor of love or duty.

There's a buying power that a consumer has that a user of something provided for free doesn't, but there is also a hell of a lot more reason to cheat, lie to, defraud a consumer than a user. There's an adversarial aspect to the relationship now.

[michalskop]

As a potentional user (having a FF OS mobile, for example) I never even learnt the name and I do not even know how to pronunce it correctly till today - seriously, the name was probably the most important reason why I do not have a mobile with the CM system on it, because it is hard to search for something you do not remember, to talk about it, etc. (I am not an English native speaker, not living in an English-speaking country.)