How do you pronounce "xTuple" anyway?

One of the very fortunate parts of my job as head of sales is that I get to travel all over visiting with the xTuple community and prospective xTuplers. I am just back from a whirlwind road trip, on the heels of several road tips. I was up and down the East Coast from Norfolk, VA to Toronto, ONT to Atlanta, GA. As you might imagine, I have enjoyed a healthy variety of accents. Either up in the great North or in the warm and sunny South, I look forward to great anticipation how the people I work with, and the people I meet, pronounce "xTuple."

I came across an article on Mashable recently that spoke to the perpetual debate about how to pronounce some everyday technology terms. It seems that hardly a day goes by when I don't hear both pronunciations of "GIF." That's a classic example where people seem to be in a comfortable place with how they say it, and they are sticking to it. As I travel all over, I see the same behavior with how people chose to say "xTuple." Below, I added xTuple as one of those debates into a graphic that Mashable made to show both sides of the opinions.

These are the variations we hear on a regular basis:

Quadruple variant:  ex-TOO-ple

Quintuple variant: ex-TUP-ple

If you learn nothing else about xTuple as you spend time on our webpages, I hope you get from us that we respect our customers' right to chose. We want to be as open as possible in all we do so that our customers can run their business the way that works best for them. We strive to be open with technology (Mac, Windows, Linux, Mobile); open with Deployment (Cloud, On-premise); and open with pricing (Free, Subscription, One-time purchase).

Let me just say that here at the home of the X we do not have an absolutist opinion on the pronunciation. Most of us here in Norfolk use the ex-TOOP-le variant. But there are xTuplers who use the Quintuple version. We have long-time customers that use both. People are always asking which is "the best to say it." I never want to correct anyone. I always say what ever is more natural for you.

As you go through the xTuple websites, you'll find that there is an option for you. You'll find the choice of which Edition works for you (PostBooks®, Distribution, Manufacturing, Enterprise), and find the way of working with us, or our partners, that works for you. I am sure along the way you will also find the pronunciation that works best for you. Let us know if we can help!

Wally Tonra

Vice President Sales

Wally has been with xTuple since 2004 and in ERP sales since the mid-1990s. After all that time selling vendor-centric, proprietary enterprise software, moving to an open source, Mac-friendly ERP package was a natural evolution. Prior to xTuple, Wally spent 10 years at JD Edwards, which was eventually acquired by Peoplesoft, in various sales and sales management positions. He made the move to xTuple before Oracle took over both Peoplesoft and the former JDE. Prior to JD Edwards, Wally held sales positions at ERP software company Daly.commerce (formerly Daly and Wolcott), hardware supplier XL/Datacomp and storage vendor EMC. Wally holds a B.S. from Boston College, where the Mac fanaticism all began.