The only worthwhile logo-related comments so far....

[Chris Zumbrunn]

On Feb 13, 2005, at 1:16 AM, stheg olloydson wrote:

> it was cried into the wilderness of rancor by Dag-Erling Smørgrav on
> Fri Feb 11 09:30:50 2005:
>
>> Likewise, Beastie is a mascot, not a logo.  In fact, it fails the
>> primary and most important test of logoness: it is not exclusive to
>> the FreeBSD project, but is shared by all BSD projects.  It also fails
>> several other important tests of logoness: it is not under the FreeBSD
>> project's direct control (our use of it is subject to the whim and
>> mercy of Kirk McKusick); it is not a registered trademark; it is
>> probably too diluted already to even be eligible to be registered as a
>> trademark.
>
> FINALLY! A worthwhile point of view - not obscured by emotion or
> reproduction mumbo-jumbo! These are extremely important points, the
> most important being Beastie doesn't belong to FreeBSD in any way,
> shape, or form. This fact renders all other arguments moot. Forget all
> of the "tradition", "offense", "professional", etc. time-wasting,
> bandwidth consuming crapola that's been posted on this topic. I submit
> that whether or not replacing Beastie as FBSD's main symbol is a good
> idea is irrelevant. It is _necessary_.

We know that Kirk McKusick doesn't object to the use of the "BSD 
Daemon" by the FreeBSD project. While the Beastie mascot isn't 
exclusive to FreeBSD and instead is used as a mascot for BSD unixes in 
general, a new FreeBSD Beastie logo is subject to the additional 
copyright of its designer and can as such be exclusive to the FreeBSD 
project. In combination with the word FreeBSD and with the approval of 
the copyright holders, it could indeed even be registered as a 
trademark. But FreeBSD is not a company, and for its marketing purposes 
it doesn't require the protection of a trademark. So, replacing Beastie 
as the FreeBSD logo is NOT necessary.

For marketing purposes, the relationship with BSD Unix and the "BSD 
Daemon" mascot is a big advantage of FreeBSD, even more so since the 
OpenBSD and NetBSD forks have done away with it. FreeBSD should 
position itself as the free BSD. Free of corporate agendas and bloating 
like Solaris and MacOSX, free of specialising on niches like NetBSD and 
OpenBSD. As such, it is the "most original" BSD flavour on the market 
and also the most associated with Beastie.

What FreeBSD needs is a new beastie logo and a professional design. If 
you need a trademark, form a company and launch a distro - even if it 
is just for marketing, sales and support purposes. The FreeBSD project 
can't and should not do that part, but should not hinder others that 
want to do that (which is why it needs a new logo and a professional 
design). In addition, the FreeBSD project can provide corporations and 
consultants with material such as white papers and success stories - 
and encourage the media to cover FreeBSD in more detail.

chris at czv.com  +41 329 41 41 41
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