Why a penguin? (1 Viewer)

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
#1
If you've ever wondered why Linux chose the pengiun, here is your answer :D

===

The following is a quote from Linus Torvalds:

Somebody had a logo competition announcement, maybe people can send their ideas to a web-site..

Anyway, this one looks like the poor penguin is not really strong enough to hold up the world, and it's going to get squashed. Not a good, positive logo, in that respect..

Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think "cuddly". Take another breath, and think "cute". Go back to "cuddly" for a while (and go on breathing), then think "contented".

With me so far? Good..

Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), "contented" means it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed on herring. Take it from me, I'm an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options.

Now, working on that angle, we don't really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be looking at the "stuffed to its brim with herring" angle here.

So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming.

(*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to stand up. Think "bean bag" here.

Now, if you have problems associating yourself with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think "chocolate" or something, but you get the idea.

Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring. Still with me?

NOW comes the hard part. With this image firmly etched on your eyeballs, you then scetch a stylizied version of it. Not a lot of detail - just a black brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a brush where the thickness of the line varies). THAT requires talent. Give people the outline, and they should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost ]"Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just _stuffed_ with herring", and small children will jump up and down and scream "mommy mommy, can I have one too?".

Then we can do a larger version with some more detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world, but I don't think we really want to give any "macho penguin" image here about Atlas or anything). That more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon. But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and the others would just be that cuddly penguin being used as an actor in some tableau.

Linus

The second quote is from when Linus announced Linux v2.0 on Usenet:

Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.
-- Linus Torvalds
 

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mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
#2
:D It is a bizarre choice, but so was that stupid MSN butterfly, and 'Clippie' must be the single most hated mascot of all time.

You thinking of going back to having Tux as your avatar?
 

gray

Senior Member
Moderator
Apr 22, 2003
30,260
#3
Indeed there are some weird choices. I've wanted to hurt clippie so bad sometimes grrr
 
Jan 7, 2004
29,704
#11
++ [ originally posted by mikhail ] ++
:D It is a bizarre choice, but so was that stupid MSN butterfly, and 'Clippie' must be the single most hated mascot of all time.

You thinking of going back to having Tux as your avatar?
imagine a guy coming to your house and giving u useless information. and asking stupd qustions. and when u ask him somethin he never knows what to say. aka office assistant
 

Layce Erayce

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2002
9,116
#12
i hate mr clippie. he never answers any IMPORTANT questions properly, for example:

What is the meaning of life?

a. Display a Bookshelf definition for a word without leaving your document
b. Grammar and writing style options
c. Look up information in Bookshelf from Word

etc

Did Vicki Gonzales really have an abortion?

A: I dont know what you mean. Please rephrase your question.

Upon rephrasal: Was abortion had by Vicki Gonzales?

A: I dont know what you mean. Please rephrase your question.

After about 45 minutes out of frustration i asked it: Are you stupid?!!

The answer it gave me:
a. Readability scores

Terrible.
 
OP
Martin

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #13
    ++ [ originally posted by [LAC] ] ++
    Did Vicki Gonzales really have an abortion?

    A: I dont know what you mean. Please rephrase your question.
    What's not to understand about that question?

    ++ [ originally posted by [LAC] ] ++
    Upon rephrasal: Was abortion had by Vicki Gonzales?

    A: I dont know what you mean. Please rephrase your question.
    Oh you were trying to beat the old "passive mode" bug hehe :D
     

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