New FreeBSD logo

Ted Mittelstaedt tedm at toybox.placo.com
Mon May 15 01:53:31 PDT 2006



>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
>[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of John Birrell
>Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 11:29 PM
>To: Gary Hayers
>Cc: questions at freebsd.org
>Subject: Re: New FreeBSD logo
>
>
>Those people who want to influence decisions like the selection of a new
>logo really only have _one_ way to have a say. Ranting on a mailing list
>is *not* that way.
>

Wrong.  I think you have this idea that the committers think that all
they
have to do is wave their wands and every FreeBSD user will instantly
march in lockstep to what they want.

This is only true for the FreeBSD source code.  If the committers in
FreeBSD
change the source to FreeBSD then the users all pretty much have little
choice but to accept it.  Oh sure they can patch the system if they want,
but the changes are usually good so why would they?  And when the changes
are bad and break things, then if a proper PR is filed that documents
everything, then the committers change it back, or fix the bug.

But not so with the logo change.  Logos only have value when they are
used.  Yes the committers can delete Beastie from FreeBSD's main
website and replace it with the sex toy - although in view of the
multiple
and varied statements by many committers that the sex toy logo is
merely an addition and not displacing Beastie I don't see how they will
be able to do this in the future without losing a lot of public face for
going back on their promises.

But the committers have zero control over what the users use for their
preferred logo.  Most people are going to use the logo they feel best
represents
FreeBSD, only a few misguided people will just blindly use the logo that
the committers tell them to use.  Since most of the userbase preferrs
Beastie they will continue to use Beastie.  The people making castings of
Beastie aren't going to see sales of a casting of the sex toy displace
Beaste,
if they even offer it, the people making stuffed Beasties aren't going to
see
sales of a stuffed sex toy outselling Beastie, etc. etc. etc.

The -only- way the committers can get a lot of people to use the new logo
is to put out a new logo that is better than Beastie.

>If you contribute to FreeBSD and earn the right to a commit
>bit, then you
>get a chance to vote on who becomes a member of the core group
>and things
>like the selection of a new logo.
>

No, you get to vote on the selection of various bits of code changes.
But no amount of your voting is going to instantly change the recognized
logo of FreeBSD from Beastie to the sex-toy.  Ranting on questions has
far more ability to make or break use of the sex-toy logo by the FreeBSD
userbase than voting on current.

>
>So people can "huff and puff and try to blow the house down" in this
>thread, but the only thing that makes any difference is what the people
>who have earned a vote think.
>

No, the only thing that makes a difference when it comes to the logo is
what the people choose to use who are normally using the FreeBSD
logo in their work every day.  And those folks are what you would term
the sales and marketing arm of FreeBSD, not the developers.  And
they are paying attention to what people are saying about the new
sex-toy logo.  The sex-toy logo has very little recognition and
association
with FreeBSD.  The few places that you might -want- to use it is
someplace
like the cover of a magazine, because if you use a recognized logo like
Beastie then prospective purchasers of that magazine are going to think
"ho hum another article about FreeBSD" and pass it by, whereas since they
don't know what the sex-toy represents, they might pick up the mag and
read it.  But, in that case your selling a magazine, not an operating
system.

In instances like the cover of a CD or a business card or a website
where your wanting to use a very instantly recognizable logo denoting
FreeBSD, your going to use Beastie.  And this reason is what is
the reason for most of the areas that have a need for a FreeBSD logo.

Ted



More information about the freebsd-questions mailing list