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Graphics Operating Systems Software BSD

NetBSD Announces Logo Design Competition 503

jschauma writes "The NetBSD Project has announced that it has launched an international competition for the creation of a new logo. There is a cash prize of US $100.00 for the winning entry. The successful logo will also have wide exposure, featuring in all NetBSD material including, but not limited to; the NetBSD.org web site, software media, apparel, and business systems. The competition will close on February 29, 2004. The rules of the competition, submission information and the design brief can be found in the official announcement, which has already spawned some discussion on the netbsd-advocacy and current-users MailingLists." The announcement notes that the current logo is "too complicated... hard to reproduce... [and] has negative cultural, and religious ramifications."
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NetBSD Announces Logo Design Competition

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  • by HanzoSpam ( 713251 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:13AM (#7984116)
    "too complicated... hard to reproduce... [and] has negative cultural, and religious ramifications."

    So political correctness has made it to open source.

    Oy!

    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:50AM (#7984322)
      Can be found here [shat.net]...
  • $100? (Score:4, Funny)

    by perly-king-69 ( 580000 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:16AM (#7984129)

    There is a cash prize of US $100.00 for the winning entry.

    With the dollar going the way it is it'll cost me more to bank the cheque than it is worth over here!

    • Re:$100? (Score:3, Informative)

      Joke! Don't be so touchy.

      But, in 2001 $100 would have bought me 71. Today it'll buy me 55, which I reckon to be about 1/3rd less.

  • Looks fine to me! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CaptainAlbert ( 162776 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:16AM (#7984131) Homepage
    > too complicated...

    for whom? for what?

    > hard to reproduce...

    == hard to forge...

    > [and] has negative cultural, and religious
    > ramifications.

    No, it doesn't. It's a cartoon devil. It doesn't offend anyone. Really. Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got ghosts in it. Trust me. If it were hanging on a cross or wearing a turban, *then* maybe it'd need changing.

    Sheesh!
    • by dave420 ( 699308 )
      It's a devil. Devils are evil. Cartoon or not, it's a symbol with evil connotations, which some people could feasibly find offensive.

      For any sort of organisation to have a logo which could cause offense isn't a good start.

      After all, with your logic, a swastika is just a bunch of lines... how could that offend anyone?

      • by adrianbaugh ( 696007 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:36AM (#7984244) Homepage Journal
        > It's a devil.

        It's not, it's a daemon. A friendly helper that lives inside your computer serving websites, answering your spam and being fingered. Really, if I had to put up with all that it'd be enough to make me grow horns and a tail!
        • Re:Looks fine to me! (Score:5, Informative)

          by zerocool^ ( 112121 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @08:58AM (#7984769) Homepage Journal
          Demon comes from the greek word diamon, or, more accurately delta-iota-alpha-mu-omicron-nu, depending on how it's declined. That's singular nominative (i think).

          In helenistic greek, i.e. around the time of the peloponnesian wars, the word diamon meant sort of "guardian spirit", but implying that it could be either a mischievous spirit or a malevolent spirit. To blame things on a kakodiamon was to say that you had bad luck, and imply that you must be plagued by a mischievous diamon.

          When the word was moved into other languages (i think it came to english via romance languages, stemming from latin), it changed to demon, and was christianized to mean "demon", i.e. servant of the dark lord (satan, not your boss, or bill gates, or $funny_guy_we_hate).

          Yeah for me with my taking greek 1105. It was hard as crap, but wow, I learned a lot. For instance, this happened to a lot of words in greek. Take, for instance, the word that's used (at least in the new testamant in sinaiticus and the vatican codex) to mean "sin". In ancient greek, it meant "mistake" not "transgression". Although, I think that's one that the greeks had started to shift the meaning of before the christians got to it.

          But, yeah, I've got this big thing for etymology, being 18 hours away from a history degree, and still eagerly taking every social sciences class I can fit in. For instance, when I see WindowsXP, I see windows, version christ. XP are the greek letters Chi Rho, which are the first letters of the word "christ", chi-rho-iota-sigma-tau-omicron-sigma. They're the letters constantine the great saw in the sky when he converted his army to christianity at the milvian bridge in 312(? i'm close, and i'm not looking it up).

          Also, if you know a little greek, you know jack chick is full of shit in his Death Cookie [chick.com] tract, which says that IHS on the cookie that catholics eat at communion stand for Isis, Horus, and Seb, egyptian gods, and that it's pagan worship to be a catholic. Sorry, Chick, but IHS are the first three leters of jesus in greek, iota-eta-sigma-upsulon-sigma (remember, indiana jones and the last crusade? "Jehova starts with an I"? Yeah, there is no J in greek, it was Iota, in both jehova and jesus).

          But, look, here, i've done rattled off my head for ever about nothing.

          Just suffice it to say, when you see demon, you don't have to think servant of satan, from the pits of hell, sent to torment the true believing christians. It's just a spirit, who may have the attitude of a prankster.

          ~Will
          • My Big Fat Greek Wedding:
            Father: All words come from Greek! Give me a word and I'll show you how it came from Greek!
            Friend: OK... "Kimono".
            Father: Let's see. Oh! I know!
      • It's a devil. Devils are evil.

        Perhaps they might be if they existed outside of the fevered imaginations of religious fundamentalists, but as they are, at most, a metaphor it's hard to see why rational people would be bothered. And why would you try and accomodate the prospective rantings of irrational people? There's no predicting what those could be.

        Cartoon or not, it's a symbol with evil connotations, which some people could feasibly find offensive.

        Rather like the SCO trademark, you mean?

        After
        • Re:Looks fine to me! (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Asmodai ( 13932 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @10:04AM (#7985380) Homepage
          Not really. A swastika is the symbol of an organization that verifiably eradicated six million jews and similar numbers of gay people, Romany gypsies, etc.

          Bah, learn proper history before commenting. The swastika is a Hindu holy symbol and associated with Ganesh, the Hindu god of good luck/fortune. It is also highly used by the Buddhists in the world since the arms symbolise the chain of rebirth and death. The four 'L's are associated with Life, Love, Luck, and Light.

          In the World War Adolf Hitler was smart enough to take an established symbol like the Indian swastika and mirrored it and made it a symbol for the Nazis to be proud of. He did the same to the Napolean Iron Cross.

          *wishing people who take their collective political correct heads our of their political correct arses, not everything revolves around the west and the middle east*
      • Re:Looks fine to me! (Score:2, Informative)

        by Queuetue ( 156269 )
        Actually, before the nazis co-opted it, the swastika was known to stand for the 4 "l"s intertwined - Love, Life, Luck and Light. It was used in the same places the Red Cross is used these days, and often on correspondance like we use X's and O's in the US. For ages, one of India's most loved goes, Ganesha, uses the swastika as a personal symbol (although not as much these days.) It was used by the ancient greeks to indicate something was wholesome and trustworthy - and was remembered that way by the Euro
      • Actually, the swastika was a highly religious symbol with very positive connotations until circa 1930. Since then it has been completely changed in the psyche of most of the world. In this case, it might be best to leave the swastika in the bad category. This is despite the fact that a reverse (counterclockwise?) swastika is actually a symbol from American Indian Cultures (I think you can find it in Navajo patterns). The point is that so much damage has been done under this symbol that is transgresses a

      • Whoops, someone modded me "Insightful" when I was trying to be "Funny". Can't win 'em all, I suppose. :) And I admit that I didn't read the article this time [slaps own wrists].

        > with your logic, a swastika is just a bunch of lines... how could that offend anyone?

        I think that's a little different, although I can't quite put my finger on why (probably not enough coffee). Here goes anyway.

        The BSD devil isn't really a devil; certainly, it doesn't depict the Biblical concept of Satan as I am familiar with
    • by KillerLoop ( 202131 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:20AM (#7984151) Homepage
      *not* the BSD devil, check out the link given in the story.
    • by Yorrike ( 322502 )
      What's wrong with wearing a turban?
    • by Ubi_NL ( 313657 ) <joris.benschopNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:29AM (#7984204) Journal
      No, it doesn't. It's a cartoon devil. It doesn't offend anyone. Really. Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got ghosts in it. Trust me. If it were hanging on a cross or wearing a turban, *then* maybe it'd need changing.

      It has nothing to do with the devils. It's a cartoon of a statue in which american soldiers are planting an american flag. That makes it culturally biased.

      Although you have to be an idiot to be offended by it, loads of people (especially in some 'liberated' countries) are suchs type of idiots and there is no reason to get into this unnecessary type of trouble

      • > Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let
        > their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got
        > ghosts in it. Trust me. If it were hanging on a
        > cross or wearing a turban, *then* maybe it'd need
        > changing.

        Yeah, your culturally sensitive input really helps

        > It's a cartoon of a statue in which american
        > soldiers are planting an american flag.

        > Although you have to be an idiot to be offended by it,

        Or hate America? Or hate war? Or hate stuff which has _nothing_ to do with NetBSD? a
    • No, it doesn't. It's a cartoon devil. It doesn't offend anyone. Really. Unless you're one of those freaks who won't let their kids watch Scoobie-doo because it's got ghosts in it.

      Reminds me of this story [interesting-people.org] featuring a poor sysadmin's experience in Hick Town, Texas.
    • by Ashtead ( 654610 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:50AM (#7984320) Journal
      The single cute "cartoon devil" (whose name may or may not be Chuck) [mckusick.com] that we see here on slashdot as the section logo for BSD, and which is really meant to be a visualization of a daemon, is not what's under consideration here. As a symbol for BSD, it is about as well-known and effective as Tux is for Linux.

      However, these angry troll/devil hybrids in sneakers trampling over what appears to be a lot of desktop computer hardware [netbsd.org] however, is evidently what is found in need of an update.

      I can list a few likely reasons for changing this, off the top of my head:

      One thing is that devils is a somewhat religious device, not found in all religions.

      Then there is the aesthetics of this. The logo is just kinda ugly. These guys are not all that different in appearance from some football hooligans... and after all, there is a strong element of marketing here, whether we like it or not. Would you want to buy an operating systems from these guys?

      Political correctness or accusations of same, marketing and aestetics aside, I would say it is just as much that the design of the monitors is becoming dated, since many of us now have relatively skinny LCDs, not fat CRT-based ones. If nothing else, the logo is becoming tecnically dated.

      All these could, individually, be considered warrants for change.

      • Um, I'm not from the US, so for me it's not such a big deal, but I *suspect* that the NetBSD flag logo (which I hadn't seen before today) is meant to in some way give a nod to this rather famous photo [georgeglazer.com]. Maybe you knew this and didn't mention it for humouristic reasons, or maybe the likeness is just a coincidence. I would really be surprised if that's the case, though. Gee, pointing this out makes me look historically well read, which I certainly am not.
      • Then there is the aesthetics of this. The logo is just kinda ugly. These guys are not all that different in appearance from some football hooligans... and after all, there is a strong element of marketing here, whether we like it or not. Would you want to buy an operating systems from these guys?

        Devils aside, this obvious parody of American soliders raising the flag on Iwo Jima (or American firemen raising the flag on 9/11) cannot stand in this time of war.

        Also, it looks like an orgy.
        • Also, it looks like an orgy.

          Hah! Good, I wasn't the only one who got that connotation. I thought "Hmm, maybe these guys should put some pants on?" Still, I don't mind. Actually quite cute those li'l devils. ;-)
    • by Punk Walrus ( 582794 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @09:42AM (#7985193) Journal
      > > [and] has negative cultural, and religious
      > > ramifications.

      > No, it doesn't. It's a cartoon devil.

      No, it's not. It's a series of daemons putting up a flag [netbsd.org], reminicent of the famous photo of Iwo Jima [att.net]. Check the links.

      > It doesn't offend anyone. Really.

      I don't know, if I was Japanese, I'd probably be offended. A lot of American soldiers killed a lot of Japanese. When it was all over there were only 250 Japanese prisoners out of the original 22,000 defenders of the island. The rest were killed. General Kuribayashi commited suicide (hari kari). The Marines lost 7,000 killed and 19,000 wounded. International conflict is not comfortable thing to talk about, and not a good idea for a world-wide logo.

      Also, have you ever heard the fates of these soldiers in that famous photo? Three of the men were killed in combat within days of the flag raising. Not exactly inspiring for a logo, either.

      > If it were hanging on a cross or wearing a
      > turban, *then* maybe it'd need changing.

      Cross, probably. Turban? A lot of cultures have turbans. What's wrong with a turban? Keeps your hair up, head shaded from the sun, is a symbol of wisdom, and a cool place to store your cobra...! No, wait, skip the last one.

  • Looks like it's cheap to finance international contests lately.

    I think I'm announcing a couple of them and probably slashdot will be kind enough to dedicate me a post.
    • Considering you can get *BSD for free, and all the value it provides, surely $100 for a logo design isn't asking too much. If they were going to hire a professional graphic artist for that much, sure it'd be a lowball price. But for volunteers submitting what essentially amounts to a "patch" for some bit of outdated IP which will then be shared freely with the world, how is that asking too much for too little in return?
  • I'm going to submit a drawing of a penguin. After all that has no negative cultural or religious ramifications right? Seems perfect to me.
  • by Giant Ape Skeleton ( 638834 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:19AM (#7984147) Homepage
    I think a penguin would be...
    oh, wait. nevermind.

  • This is SOOO obvious (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Phekko ( 619272 )
    The BSD d(a)emon holding a gladiator-like net.
    • The BSD d(a)emon holding a gladiator-like net.

      But they want to get away from religious figures in their logo. I think it'd be best to come up with a simple text "NetBSD" in Gimp and then add a lens-flare effect. $100 here I come!

    • I immediately pictured a logo with the little red guy slam dunking a basketball, with the caption "NetBSD: Nothing But Net" might be good.

      I.V.
  • by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:26AM (#7984189)
    Several people have posted (in the usual /. manner) that they don't see an issue with the devil, it's a cartoon, right wing religious wackos, etc. Well its not the devil, it's what the devils are doing. The devils are in a pose that mimics one that is usually associated with valour and the giving of ones life for "liberty" (whether or not you agree that this particular pose does or not is for another discussion). So now you have a logo that uses characters associated with negative deeds (the devil, cartoon or not) in the place of men associated with honor and self sacrafice. Given the current events, I could see how this logo, while passing under the radar for many years, is now suddenly considered inappropriate.

    I can understand how many would find it inappropriate, which is unfortunate because for those who've been around the BSD and the computer scene for a while know exactly what the logo is trying to represent and it's quite accurate in that regard.
  • by basingwerk ( 521105 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:29AM (#7984200)
    The original Iwo Jima photo by Joe Rosenthal was faked the day after the victory. In the NetBSD reproduction, the US troops have been replaced by devils, and the mountain top is a pile of computer hardware. The US flag has become a simple banner proclaiming NET Bsd. Notwithstanding any political correctness in this decision, it is hard to see the relevance of the current logo.
    • Acutally the flag raising was done twice right after each other, the first flag was very small so they decided to take it down and find a larger pole to put it on, as it was being put up the photographer 'Joe Rosenthal' snapped the picture as he was just coming to the top of mountain. Later , when the flag was fully raised, he took a posed picture. Of course the accidental picture was the one that became famous.
  • 1) Change the colour. Red is too demonic. Black would be good, no-one objects to Tux after all, but you wanna make the face stand out. Make that much lighter, and slightly more prominent.
    2) Lose the horns. Something like big round ears would be friendlier.
    3) Lose the pitchfork and tail. You want something that gives an air of class - like white gloves
    4) No nudity, please; we need more than trainers or this is just pornography. Put shorts on the dude or something. You could even make them red, sort o
  • by deunan_k ( 637851 ) <knute@@@deunan...com> on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:36AM (#7984241) Homepage
    Pentium

    It is called "Pentium" because it is the fifth in the 80x86 line. It would have been called the 80586 had a US court not ruled that you can't trademark a number.

    The successors are the Pentium Pro and Pentium II.

    The following Pentium variants all belong to "x86 Family 6", as reported by "Microsoft Windows" when identifying the CPU:

    Model Name
    1 Pentium Pro
    2 ?
    3 Pentium II
    4 ?
    5, 6 Celeron or Pentium II
    7 Pentium III
    8 Celeron uPGA2 or Mobile Pentium III

    The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number. It suggests the number five (implying 586) while (according to Intel) conveying a meaning of strength "like
    titanium".

    Intel did not stick to this convention when naming its P6 processor the Pentium Pro; many believe this is due to difficulties in selling a chip with "sex" in its name. Successor chips have been
    called `Pentium II' and `Pentium III'.

    Sorry, the above comments I pirate it off - http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pentium

    The last paragraph is more closely related to NetBSD (or all BSDs in general) problem. I read an article somewhere years ago that, Intel actually engaged a consulting firm in order to come out with a name for suitable for the 586. One of the criterias was that it must be something not offensive in any languages spoken worldwide.

    Call it political correctness, but you don't offend anyone if you can help it. Especially a wold class entity doing business worldwide.

    NetBSD, is an entity that transact with people all over the world. People from all walks of life. Personally, I love the BSD daemon, kinda cute.. But I'm sure it is not the OS of choice for some/most religious organization.. Esp. those conservative ones who have yet to discover fire.

    Well, if they decide on a new logo in order not to offend the sensibilities of 'potential' customers, why not indeed?

    Regards all and everyone - peace!
  • Forget Beastie.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sethadam1 ( 530629 ) * <ascheinberg@gmai ... inus threevowels> on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:37AM (#7984254) Homepage
    Beastie, although he is really a BSD thing in general, is most associated with FreeBSD. OpenBSD adopted Puff the Blowfish and it is instantly recognizable as obsd. I think NetBSD design submitters ought to choose a new animal - perhaps a stingray, a lobster, a crab, or some other creature that can defend itself - and go for it. Then NetBSD will have some individual recognizable identity to those outside the BSD aware.
    • Puff the Blowfish and it is instantly recognizable as obsd.

      Yes, I agree, the fish instantly recognizable as obese. Oh, wait...
  • by k98sven ( 324383 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:41AM (#7984273) Journal
    Please allow me to introduce myself
    I'm an OS of wealth and taste
    I've been around for a long, long year
    Stole many a man's soul and faith

    And I was 'round when Gary Kildall
    Had his moment of doubt and pain
    Made damn sure that Bill Gates
    Washed his hands and sealed his fate

    Pleased to meet you
    Hope you guess my name
    But what's puzzling you
    Is the nature of my game

    I stuck around Digital
    When I saw it was a time for a change
    Killed VMS and its decendents
    The VAXen screamed in vain

    I rode my way
    through USLs day
    when the lawsuit raged
    and the licenses stank

    Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
    Ah, what's puzzling you
    Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

    I watched with glee
    While your kings and queens
    Fought for ten decades
    For the OSes they made
    I shouted out,
    Who killed System V?
    When after all
    It was you and me

    etc... my apology to the Rolling Stones..

  • by Max Romantschuk ( 132276 ) <max@romantschuk.fi> on Thursday January 15, 2004 @07:47AM (#7984308) Homepage
    I believe this is a good idea, from a branding standpoint.

    The loss of the BSD daemon may be unfortunate, but looking at major brands it's pretty clear recognition doesn't require a cool mascot. To name a few: Nike, Adidas, Mercedez-Benz and Nokia all have rather simple comporate symbols.

    If the NetBSD project wishes to look more professional in the eyes of marketeers, this is a good move.
  • I use NetBSD at home on my Qube2. I like the Demon; in fact I like it a lot. I get the NetBSD logo and I'm amused by it. I don't particularly like though so I agree that a change could be good.

    However! I am honestly offended by suggestions that a cartoon demon could be offensive to a sane religion or society. The religions and societies that do find offense in these sorts of things are looking for any excuse to spread hate and frankly I'm sick of it.

  • Does NetBSD have a mostcot? If so, i assume its the BSD daemon? In which case, does new logo imply new mascot?
  • Wait . . . (Score:3, Funny)

    by shystershep ( 643874 ) * <.moc.liamg. .ta. .drehpehsdb.> on Thursday January 15, 2004 @08:00AM (#7984372) Homepage Journal
    The successful logo will also have wide exposure

    Wait a minute - this is NETBSD we're talking about here, right?

  • by BSDevil ( 301159 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @08:00AM (#7984373) Journal
    ...and they didn't even tell me.

    Way to gout out of your way there, Net BSD. After years of loyal servitude, this is how you treat me.
  • Considering how much BSD code was used in Windows services for UNIX [slashdot.org], how about this [canondv.com].

    .02

    cLive ;-)

  • by Tom ( 822 )
    has negative cultural, and religious ramifications."

    Seriously, I'd consider that an advantage. What kind of people would refuse to run an OS because its mascot is a cuddly depiction of an image that was attached to the negative side of their religion sometime during the early middle ages?

    Is it not a great bonus to not have these people as users?

  • This is ridiculous. The trickster archtype is as old as humanity and serves an important function as the rebel, the defender of the non-conventional, etc. I always loved this little character because he more or less represented the non-mainstream, something that couldnt be "MS-ified." Come on, this isn't exactly a Church of Satan horned muscle-bound monstrosity with a huge schlong hanging between its legs.

    He's also drawn in a very cute anime-like way which pretty much puts the kibosh on the whole "its th
  • So, NetBSD is going politically correct? Well, the Linux Penguin is non-PC in a more subtle way [linux.org]. :-)
  • This reminds of what P&G went through. Anyone here remember their familiar old logo [ship-of-fools.com] ? Apparently someone thought the numbers 666 were hidden in there somehow, and from there everything started to be blown out of proportion.

    'Procter & Gamble has answered more than 150,000 calls and letters about these false stories... Calls and letters peaked in 1982, 1985 and again in 1990... Procter & Gamble, which had worldwide sales of $19 billion last year, is still getting as many as 80 calls a month abo

  • The biggest (in terms of value, profits and probably fan base) soccer team in the world (Manchester United [manutd.com]) has the devil as its logo/mascot.

    They even have a fluffy man-in-suit devil called 'Fred the Red' that greets kids at the game and appears in comic strips in the match program. They used to be widely known as 'The Red Devils' but this does seem to have lost some popularity recently.

    If they can turn over many, many millions with a devil on every shirt is it really a hinderence to an OS?

    I think the na
    • Why can't people get it's not just about "devil"? One of the most popular teams in college basketball is the Duke Blue Devils. It's also a good school and in the south (North Carolina). People don't have problem with the team, school or logo.

      New Jersey Devils is one of the most popular hockey teams and usually have good teams. No one complains about their logo.

      Maybe it's just more acceptable is sports. But that's not the point.

      The main issue should be the complexity of the logo. There are too many

  • I just sent my logo submission to the NetBSD Foundation. I don't think I'll ever win this competition, but I felt like sending something! ;-)
  • by tacocat ( 527354 )

    I was reading through some of these posts and it would would be nice if someone would actually read the fucking article and the fucking announcement. Then they might realize that the Logo Contest isn't about the cute little Deamon that we all know and love so well.

    It's about the pile of Deamons doing the Iwo Jima thing on top of all your Monitors.

    This image is a little tricky to duplicate and has some rather aggressive connotations. Far more aggressive than anything in the more generic BSD Deamon that y

  • I thought NetBSD was doing a Lego contest. I was really excited until I realized it was a logo contest. With Lego returning to blocks I thought my hour of glory had finally arrived.

    I guess I need to draw more than stick figures to win. That leaves me out.

    Maybe I'll use PhotoShop to copy a $100.00 bill and submit that for the logo...
  • Elephant is on the logo of PostgreSQL, which is also coming from Berkley historically. I guess Rhino, who lives close to Elephants, will remind that fact. Besides, that thing on its head reminds me existing BSD daemon head :)
  • An opportunity... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pschmied ( 5648 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @09:34AM (#7985105) Homepage
    ...to raise awareness about one of the cooler OS projects out there shouldn't be wasted.

    I know that the conventional wisdom is:
    • FreeBSD is for servers
    • OpenBSD is for firewalls
    • NetBSD is for obscure hardware

    But, in reality, NetBSD runs on so many platforms as a side effect of their stated policy to implement things the Right Way rather than ever relying on hacks.

    NetBSD is one of the cleanest, most logical, and most innovative open source projects out there.

    For example, NetBSD takes an insanely good idea (the FreeBSD ports collection) and makes it even better. Pkgsrc (NetBSD's answer to ports) is built in such a way that allows you to run it on Solaris, Linux, and a number of other operating systems. Plus it has a built-in package security auditing tool.

    FreeBSD et al are moving toward NetBSD's innovative init system which in my mind combines the power of SysV and the ease of use of *BSD.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe NetBSD was the first OS anywhere to support ipv6.

    NetBSD always seems to chug away in relative obscurity, with even BSD folk ignoring and misunderstanding it. Yeah, it's great for embedded work. Yeah, it'll run on almost anything. But it's also a really great workstation. And their uncompromising approach to quality and correct implementation make it a very stable and logical general purpose OS.

    So, I for one welcome the new logo, and hope that it helps to bring NetBSD out of the shadows and allows my fellow open source users to enjoy another excellent operating system.

    -Peter
    • Re:An opportunity... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SteelX ( 32194 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @12:58PM (#7987597)
      I've been thinking about checking out NetBSD's pkgsrc for quite a while. It sounds like a really cool idea. You seem to have experience with NetBSD and I was wondering if you could answer a question that I have been pondering for some time.

      Would it be possible to use pkgsrc as the main package management system on a Linux box, say, Slackware? What I mean is, forget Slackware's package management system altogether and replace it with NetBSD's pkgsrc.
      • Re:An opportunity... (Score:3, Informative)

        by pschmied ( 5648 )

        Would it be possible to use pkgsrc as the main package management system on a Linux box, say, Slackware? What I mean is, forget Slackware's package management system altogether and replace it with NetBSD's pkgsrc.

        NetBSD has pre-built binaries for just what you describe! Check out http://www.pkgsrc.org [pkgsrc.org] for details.

        They've got bootstrap source that will compile on a lot, plus binary packages for a bunch of operating systems including Slackware (And Darwin. And Debian. And Irix. And Solaris :-) )

        I'm not

  • by Quixadhal ( 45024 ) on Thursday January 15, 2004 @04:20PM (#7990669) Homepage Journal
    Hmmmm, troll looks HUNGRY.. guess I'll toss a bone.

    I, personally, am deeply offended by the insane attempts of far too many otherwise intelligent people in this decade to bury the age-old stereotypes, differences of belief, and general feelings beneath a very thin veneer of political correctness. What's so wrong about being honest?

    I'm not against integration, and I cherish diversity. Learning about other cultures is a good thing, but pretending they aren't different when they are is stupid. If wearing a red shirt is offensive to the group of people who were extras on ST:TOS, should everyone stop wearing red shirts because they MIGHT feel bad? I'd suggest that those people who become upset over P.C. issues should ask themselves why they're upset... and maybe grow up a little.

    Where are the Satanists to defend their beliefs? Seriously, if Christians can get all bent out of shape at the logo of a devil, why can't Satanists demand that the cross be banned from public display because it offends them? Either it works both ways, or not at all.

    The logo in question is being dragged through the mud because a few religious zealots woke up and started looking at free operating systems and saw a devil? What, are they so stupid that they assumed this literally meant "Satan Inside"? Didn't the cute smile tip them off about the concept of caricature?

    I checked my calendar... it's not 040401 yet, and 040104 has passed (YYMMDD anyways), so let's repost this when the time is right.

The 11 is for people with the pride of a 10 and the pocketbook of an 8. -- R.B. Greenberg [referring to PDPs?]

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