Frank J. Ohlhorst. Uninformed.
This "opinion piece" illustrates precisely why I hate working for, with or around "suits".
He makes 2 basic points: 1) The image of Linux is too frivolous, and 2) The names of Linux programs and utilities are not "intuitive" and "the meaning is lost on all but hard-core Linux folks"
Lose the penguin?! Is he kidding?!?! "The Pengin" (His name is "Tux", damnit!) is cool. Tux is friendly. Tux is non-threatening. Tux is happy. I suppose being cool, friendly, non-threatening and happy is not welcome in the business world. Linux needs to be less frivolous, I suppose. Is an abstract piece of fruit with a bite missing too frivolous a logo? How about the word "Linux" written cryptically to form a square tipped on one of its vertices? Is that boring enough? Maybe just the word "Linux" all crammed together... Yeah... that would be a nice boring logo.
Bad names? YaST and GIMP are "bad" names? How is "PowerPoint" intuitive? In what way does "Excel" imply spreadsheety goodness? "Access" is a database? "Distiller"... now THAT's an intuitive name for a program... Obviously, it removes any reference to Ben or Jerry Stiller from your documents. Jackass. The only reason people know that Excel is a spreadsheet is because it has been the de facto standard spreadsheet for 10 years. It has been, effectively, the only option out there (yes, I know about OpenOffice.org, but most common MS Windows users don't). The other problem with using "boring but descriptive" names for programs is that there are often several, dozens, or even hundreds of programs out there in the Linux world for any one purpose. To call a program "System Manager" is stupid because it becomes impossible to distinguish one System Manager from another. Also, it seems like Mr. Ohlhorst has not taken a recent look at "modern" Linux distributuions. If you go into the "Applications" menu on a typical FedoraCore box these days, you'll see, under "Office", programs named "Presentaion", "Spreadsheet" and "Word Processor". How is that counterintuitive?! Further, it appears the author of TFA likes the way Microsoft names things. Of course, when Microsoft decides on a clever name for one of its products (like Windows, Word, Update, et cetera), it frequently takes that name as a Registered Trademark. So... How are the F/OSS folks supposed to cope with that? When words like Office, Windows, Word and so on are trademarks (the USPTO is really asleep at the switch, here) developers of and/or for other platforms are forced to use names which are unique, non-infringing and, at least in some way, suggestive of the function of the program.
I say leave Linux just the way it is... I mean, keep improving functionality, stability, usability, security and so on, but leave Tux right where he is. Don't futz with the application names. If the mascot and the program names are keeping Mr. Ohlhorst off linux, maybe it's for the best... I mean... would you want to support a guy with a worldview like his? I wouldn't.
He makes 2 basic points: 1) The image of Linux is too frivolous, and 2) The names of Linux programs and utilities are not "intuitive" and "the meaning is lost on all but hard-core Linux folks"
Lose the penguin?! Is he kidding?!?! "The Pengin" (His name is "Tux", damnit!) is cool. Tux is friendly. Tux is non-threatening. Tux is happy. I suppose being cool, friendly, non-threatening and happy is not welcome in the business world. Linux needs to be less frivolous, I suppose. Is an abstract piece of fruit with a bite missing too frivolous a logo? How about the word "Linux" written cryptically to form a square tipped on one of its vertices? Is that boring enough? Maybe just the word "Linux" all crammed together... Yeah... that would be a nice boring logo.
Bad names? YaST and GIMP are "bad" names? How is "PowerPoint" intuitive? In what way does "Excel" imply spreadsheety goodness? "Access" is a database? "Distiller"... now THAT's an intuitive name for a program... Obviously, it removes any reference to Ben or Jerry Stiller from your documents. Jackass. The only reason people know that Excel is a spreadsheet is because it has been the de facto standard spreadsheet for 10 years. It has been, effectively, the only option out there (yes, I know about OpenOffice.org, but most common MS Windows users don't). The other problem with using "boring but descriptive" names for programs is that there are often several, dozens, or even hundreds of programs out there in the Linux world for any one purpose. To call a program "System Manager" is stupid because it becomes impossible to distinguish one System Manager from another. Also, it seems like Mr. Ohlhorst has not taken a recent look at "modern" Linux distributuions. If you go into the "Applications" menu on a typical FedoraCore box these days, you'll see, under "Office", programs named "Presentaion", "Spreadsheet" and "Word Processor". How is that counterintuitive?! Further, it appears the author of TFA likes the way Microsoft names things. Of course, when Microsoft decides on a clever name for one of its products (like Windows, Word, Update, et cetera), it frequently takes that name as a Registered Trademark. So... How are the F/OSS folks supposed to cope with that? When words like Office, Windows, Word and so on are trademarks (the USPTO is really asleep at the switch, here) developers of and/or for other platforms are forced to use names which are unique, non-infringing and, at least in some way, suggestive of the function of the program.
I say leave Linux just the way it is... I mean, keep improving functionality, stability, usability, security and so on, but leave Tux right where he is. Don't futz with the application names. If the mascot and the program names are keeping Mr. Ohlhorst off linux, maybe it's for the best... I mean... would you want to support a guy with a worldview like his? I wouldn't.
posted by UrsusPacificus at 2:13 PM
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