Please don't change Beastie to another crap logo such as NetBSD!!!

[Bart Silverstrim]

On Feb 11, 2005, at 8:53 AM, Greg Barniskis wrote:

> Bart Silverstrim wrote:
>
>> Out of curiosity, is Beastie so terrible, a logo, that a business 
>> would be stupid enough to base their server decisions based on it?  
>> Would you care if a business were that dumb...would you actually 
>> *want* them using it?
>
> The problem (from my point of view) really has a lot more to do with 
> having to communicate about an OS after it is selected, rather than 
> the act of selection (which is rightly based on technical merit). I 
> need to communicate about ongoing server operations with boards of 
> trustees, with my immediate customers, and indirectly with their 
> customers. I can't use Beastie in these discussions because I can't 
> afford the time to explain the multiple "inside jokes" re: 
> daemon/demon, the tennis shoes, etc., over and over and over again, 
> and I really, really can't afford to lose a debate about FreeBSD's 
> "appropriateness".
>
> While the amusing subtleties embodied in the Beatie emblem are indeed 
> endearing to the IT community, they are a serious *drag* when 
> communicating to the less clueful.

I suppose if my employers were that close in resemblance to the PHB in 
Dilbert, I'd probably just not use the logo and use some text version 
of the OS name.  That is, if they care enough to question it.  My 
employers don't know anything about our servers, and they don't care to 
know about them either, so they don't question it; just my immediate 
supervisor cares enough to know about the situation.

Maybe as an experiment I should introduce the logo sometime to the 
administrative staff to see if they question it.

I'm missing the part about the tennis shoes though.  I didn't realize 
that was part of the joke...? :-)

>> Windows' logo isn't even a logo.  It's a flag of a window pane 
>> falling apart in the breeze.  I associate windows with broken glass.  
>> These things don't seem to hinder Windows from getting massive market 
>> share.
>
> My board of directors never looked at the Windows logo and said "What 
> the f#$% is that!?". Argue all you like about the fact that people 
> need to be more open and clueful, and how precious Beatie's legacy is 
> (I agree it is), the bottom line is that some rather important people 
> aren't very clueful, and many of them can't ever be expected to be 
> clueful, and I don't have time to educate dozens of people every time 
> I want to compare our organization's use of various OS flavors.
>
> So, I limit myself to indicating "FreeBSD" by text only, and I know 
> that the impact of that on the decision makers is somewhat lower than 
> if I had a stylin' graphic suitable for use in official communications 
> like uptime graphs, scope of use, service dependencies, project 
> activities, etc.

I suppose you could always migrate to OpenBSD.  I always liked the 
blowfish.

My personal approach if stuck without a cluebat would be to just make 
something up just for your presentations.  If you honestly think they 
are going to run into FreeBSD info out there on the in-tar-net, they're 
GOING to get exposed to the evil devil like being.  And that logo, like 
it or not, is going to continue floating around out there.  It can't be 
pushed aside like some dark family secret.

Most clueless management have interest spans regarding technology that 
lasts about as long as the meeting in which they're exposed to the 
forbidden information.  Get the McDonald's logo or get a picture of a 
stack of pancakes and use that for your presentation.  I doubt they'd 
care about the difference.  Why have the world bend to the will of the 
minority to please a couple PHBs?  That's thinking like a PHB...

> OK, so now maybe I expect some flamage about bein' chicken, not 
> standing up for what's right, etc. Well, horse hockey. I have a duty 
> to my employer not to waste everyone's time with the deamon/demon 
> discussion (over and over and over again). It would be one thing if we 
> could do it once and get it over with, but that is clearly not the 
> case.

If it's your duty not to waste their time with daemon/demon (etc), why 
are you bringing it up?  Oh, you mean THEY are bringing it it up.  
After you already explained it.  So THEY're the problem, since they 
aren't listening and remembering.  AND they're wasting your time by 
having you review the material again and rehash issues regarding a 
*logo* instead of what the meeting is supposed to be about?

Just checking.

Your duty should be to answer their questions and go over pertinent 
information for the presentation.  If they want to know about it 
*again*, give them the info.  If they keep forgetting, print up a 
pamphlet.  There may already be stuff at the FreeBSD advocacy sites 
ready to print.

> -- 
> Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator
> South Central Library System (SCLS)
> Library Interchange Network (LINK)
> <gregb at scls.lib.wi.us>, (608) 266-6348


You work in a library and yet they don't want to be educated.  I always 
found that ironic.

The best way to punish educated people?  Make them read.  I found that 
the longer my email is, the less likely someone is to read it.  Even if 
it has information relevant to them in it.  They'll sooner delete the 
message then call up to ask the very question that message JUST 
ANSWERED.  ARGH.

This is just my $.02.  I don't know your position or what you're stuck 
with, but to me, if the logo is this much of an issue, I'd either try 
to educate them to get over it or just avoid bringing it up.  FreeBSD 
wasn't "marketed", nor was it "targeted", or meant for a particular 
market.  It's not consumer or salesdrone-driven.  It is what it is.  
Take it, leave it, improve it, use it, pass it on or pass it over...no 
one forces anyone to use it.