What kind of name is Nidus, anyway?

Good question. I'm glad you asked. Well, perhaps not...

So, what does one name an operating system, anyway? How does anyone come up with any names? Personally, I find it very difficult to come up with names, so this was a vexing question.

My first idea was to call it "Com OS", since the kernel would be based on the principles of COM. Nice idea, but after searching online, it became apparent that there already was a "Com OS" (or similar), apparently a UNIX-like system. Not wishing to have a name conflict, I tried to find another...which led to the following crazy procedure.

I have an interest in the Japanese culture, so I figured I'd try to map the name into one of the Japanese character sets -- Katakana. The most logical translation (to me) would be this:


ka	eh	mu	oh	eh	su

Thus, "Com OS" (sort of, anyway). Alas, using Katakana on an American keyboard isn't particularly easy, so I wasn't done yet. Looking at the katakana, the closest matching english characters would be NIDYIZ, which is a terrible name. So, head over to an online dictionary to look up the closest match, and I came across:

Main Entry: ni ·dus
Pronunciation: 'nI-d&s
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural ni·di /'nI-"dI/; or ni·dus·es
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin
Date: 1742
1 : a nest or breeding place; especially : a place or substance in an animal or plant where bacteria or other organisms lodge and multiply
2 : a place where something originates, develops, or is located.
Definition taken from Merriam Webster online. I'm certain some copyright statement should be here, but I couldn't find anyhting on their site about making excerpts available online -- though this would probably fall under "Fair Use" as well...

The second definition fits my needs perfectly, and the first leaves enough room to make fun of the meaning of the name. Not too bad...

GECL
Nidus