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FreeBSD Announces Contest To Replace Daemon Logo 716

Posted by timothy from the but-the-daemon-rocks dept.
An anonymous reader submits "The FreeBSD core team has announced a public competition to design a new logo to replace the current BSD daemon logo. The new logo will be used on the FreeBSD website, software media labels, printed media, hardware equipment, and more. The winner of the contest will receive $500." It's too early for an April Fool's Joke; according to the contest page, "this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside."
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FreeBSD Announces Contest To Replace Daemon Logo More

FreeBSD Announces Contest To Replace Daemon Logo

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  • I have an idea for a new FreeBSD logo (Score:5, Funny)

    by The I Shing ( 700142 ) * on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:39PM (#11622083) Journal
    How about the little red devil jabbing his pitchfork into a patent lawyer's behind?

  • A True Shame (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nimrangul ( 599578 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:39PM (#11622089) Journal
    It's a shame, NetBSD I can understand, there may be some confusion when both BSDs use the same "daemony" logo style, but the other BSDs have all moved away from beastie.

    The religious issue I cannot believe actually warrents changing the logo and I see nothing particularly unprofessional about the daemon.

    • Re:A True Shame (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tet ( 2721 ) <slashdot@nOsPam.astradyne.co.uk> on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:44PM (#11622167) Homepage Journal
      I see nothing particularly unprofessional about the daemon.

      Indeed. As if proof were needed, having a fat penguin as a logo doesn't seem to have done Linux any harm. I fail to see how that could be more professional than a daemon...

    • Re:A True Shame (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:45PM (#11622178)
      There is also a petition [petitiononline.com] to keep the existing logo.
      • I think the best way to ensure that something happens is to start a web-based petition against it.

        Seriously, has any of these petitions EVER had ANY effect on ANYTHING? What a waste of time.

      • Re:A True Shame (Score:4, Informative)

        by Brandybuck ( 704397 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @11:44PM (#11626659) Homepage Journal
        What's truly sad is that these people are so caught up in their paranoia that they don't realize that the daemon mascot is NOT GOING TO GO AWAY!

    • Re:A True Shame (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:48PM (#11622223)

      * The logo must not exploit or offend a person's sex, race,
      religion, morality, culture , nor be salacious or
      pornographic.

      In other words: the logo may not actually represent anything, because it would offend someone. In fact, it cannot even contain the name "FreeBSD," because that is demeaning to the other versions of BSD which are no less free.

    • Yeah, what's wrong with Beastie? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Omega ( 1602 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:55PM (#11622317) Homepage
      ...according to the contest page, "this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside."
      And this somebody would be a dumbass. Seriously, Beastie has been around for almost 2 decades and has represented the "professional" side of BSD for all that time.

      This is truly sad. I can just imagine the new logo being along the same lines as the crap parodied by eNormicom [enormicom.com].

      • ...according to the contest page, "this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside."

        This grammer seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside.

        Beastie is the least of their professional image problems.
      • I use Freebsd. I've been using BSD in one form or another for a about 2 decades. I don't want a OS that is developed by people that would make the kind of statement on the contest page.

        You see, I don't care if the OS has a better market share. It does what I need it to do and it does it well. As it increases its market share and becomes more mainstream, the amount of useless crud that gets added increases and I don't want that because it decreases the security. If I wanted bloat and cute, I would have
    • Is there any plan to make their logo visually similar to one of the other BSDs? Or do the logos really matter to anybody except marketing geeks?

    • Logo != Mascot (Score:3, Interesting)

      by leoboiko ( 462141 )
      Unlike OpenBSD (and I'll never forgive them for the damn fish), NetBSD has *not* moved away from beastie. A mascot is not the same as a logo. NetBSD has opted for a daemon-less logo, but still keeps the same mascot. I hope FreeBSD is doing the same. I think it's pretty reasonable, given the amount of religious nuts out there.

    • Re:A True Shame (Score:3, Interesting)

      by senzafine ( 630873 )
      The religious issue I cannot believe actually warrents changing the logo and I see nothing particularly unprofessional about the daemon.

      It's not completely about a "religious issue". Businesses don't necessarily care about that. But the logo plays the role of giving visual insight for a product or company. This is wny marketting firms exist.

      I am not for or against a logo change...but I can definitely see the case of a "devil-ish" character as part of your logo not being the best representation of y

  • Following NetBSD (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bendelo ( 737558 ) * on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:39PM (#11622092)
    Remember the previous competition? NetBSD Announces Logo Design Competition [slashdot.org]

  • I'll do it.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by pploco ( 694950 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:40PM (#11622095)
    For 500 bucks and a free copy of FreeBSD.

  • I nominate (Score:4, Funny)

    by dsanfte ( 443781 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:40PM (#11622100) Journal
    a Tombstone.

    BSD was dying in '98, it's gotta be dead by now, right? =)

  • that's not all, folks! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    New non-hideous /. BSD section theme to follow...

  • If the winner... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jane_Dozey ( 759010 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:40PM (#11622105)
    ...is anything like the netbsd logo I'm going to scream! What's wrong with the demon?

  • my entry! (Score:5, Funny)

    by OmniVector ( 569062 ) <se e m y h o mepage> on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:41PM (#11622113) Homepage
    I've already submitted my entry [freebsd.org]. I've got my fingers crossed!
  • There are other contests to replace Linux's Penguin, GNU ñu, mysql seagull and so on?

  • So let me get this straight (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:41PM (#11622119) Homepage Journal
    It's OK for football teams, canned ham spread, and vacuum cleaners, but not for an operating system?

    • MOD parent up! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      BSD is known by the BSDaemon. Why would you erase such powerful branding? This is absurd.

      Plus, the Daemon is way cuter than the Penguin or that stupid butterfly.

    • Re:So let me get this straight (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dutchmaan ( 442553 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:06PM (#11622451) Homepage
      football teams (watched in the home)
      canned ham spread (eaten in the home)
      vacuum cleaners (used in the home)

      While I have no real problem with the BSD daemon, to me it doesn't *feel* like a professional branding, and lets face it..no matter what the underlying technology there is something to the image of a product when decisions are made.. just look at Apple for proof of that.
  • Great. We'll probably end up with some corporate-style logo that I'll totally hate.

  • Slippery Slope... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 4of12 ( 97621 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:44PM (#11622156) Homepage Journal

    Practically, I can see where the horned devil might make certain religious people uncomfortable.

    But if you're going down that road, then you might as well steer clear of offending other religions world-wide. That's right, no pigs, camels, or graven image idols, etc.

    Consider how many Jews and Muslims have avoided learning Perl because of the offensive beast on the cover of the O'Reilly book!

  • It's not going to replace Beastie (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:44PM (#11622157)
    The logo will go in concert with beastie but will also be seperate. This helps with official letterhead and small "powered by freebsd" logos where beastie doesn't show up very well. Beastie is still the mascot and will be displayed on the web site and t-shirt...
  • A daemon *wearing* a tux!!! yeah!! ;-)
  • What is up with that?

    I mean it could not have been any worse unless they picked a cute picture of a flightless water fowl for their logo.

    I mean we all know that would never fly with corporate America. :)
  • "this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside."

    ...

    Wuh?

  • WTF?!! Nobody's posted THIS yet?!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:46PM (#11622197)
    Linda Branagan is an expert on daemons. She has a T-shirt that sports the daemon in tennis shoes that appears on the cover of the 4.3BSD manuals and The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System by S. Leffler, M. McKusick, M. Karels, J. Quarterman, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA 1989. She tells the following story about wearing the 4.3BSD daemon T-shirt:

    Last week I walked into a local "home style cookin" restaurant/watering hole" in Texas to pick up a take-out order. I spoke briefly to the waitress behind the counter, who told me my order would be done in a few minutes.

    So, while I was busy gazing at the farm implements hanging on the walls, I was approached by two "natives." These guys might just be the original Texas rednecks.

    "Pardon us, ma'am. Mind if we ask you a question?"

    Well, people keep telling me that Texans are real friendly, so I nodded.

    "Are you a Satanist?"

    Well, at least they didn't ask me if I liked to party.

    "Uh, no, I can't say that I am."

    "Gee, ma&#180;am. Are you sure about that?" they asked.

    I put on my biggest, brightest Dallas Cowboys cheerleader smile and said, "No, I&#180;m positive. The closest I&#180;ve ever come to Satanism is watching Geraldo."

    "Hmmm. Interesting. See, we was just wondering why it is you have the lord of darkness on your chest there."

    I was this close to slapping one of them and causing a scene--then I stopped and noticed the shirt I happened to be wearing that day. Sure enough, it had a picture of a small, devilish-looking creature that has for some time now been associated with a certain operating system. In this particular representation, the creature was wearing sneakers.

    They continued: "See, ma&#180;am, we don&#180;t exactly appreciate it when people show off pictures of the devil. Especially when he&#180;s lookin&#180; so friendly."

    These idiots sounded terrifyingly serious.

    Me: "Oh, well, see, this isn&#180;t really the devil, it&#180;s just, well, it&#180;s sort of a mascot."

    Native: "And what kind of football team has the devil as a mascot?"

    Me: "Oh, it&#180;s not a team. It&#180;s an operating--uh, a kind of computer."

    I figured that an ATM machine was about as much technology as these guys could handle, and I knew that if I so much as uttered the word "UNIX" I would only make things worse.

    Native: "Where does this satanical computer come from?"

    Me: "California. And there&#180;s nothing satanical about it really."

    Somewhere along the line here, the waitress noticed my predicament--but these guys probably outweighed her by 600 pounds, so all she did was look at me sympathetically and run off into the kitchen.

    Native: "ma&#180;am, I think you&#180;re lying. And we&#180;d appreciate it if you&#180;d leave the premises now."

    Fortunately, the waitress returned that very instant with my order, and they agreed that it would be okay for me to actually pay for my food before I left. While I was at the cash register, they amused themselves by talking to each other.

    Native #1: "Do you think the police know about these devil computers?"

    Native #2: "If they come from California, then the FBI oughta know about &#180;em."

    They escorted me to the door. I tried one last time:

    "You&#180;re really blowing this all out of proportion. A lot of people use this `kind of computers." Universities, researchers, businesses. They&#180;re actually very useful."

    Big, big, big mistake. I should have guessed at what came next.

    Native: "Does the government use these devil computers?"

    Me: "Yes."

    Another big boo-boo.

    Native: "And does the government pay for &#180;em? With our tax dollars?"

    I decided that it was time to jump ship.

    Me: "No. Nope. Not at all. Your tax dollars never entered the picture at all. I promise. No sir, not a penny. Our good Christian congressmen would never let something like that happen. Nope. Never. Bye."
  • Linked page says it is not yet announced
  • Best get my BSD Daemon tattoo done before it's too out of date :)
  • it won't be as bad as the mascot [openoffice.org] from OpenOffice.org's Schools Project [openoffice.org].

  • How about (Score:2, Funny)

    by BossMC ( 696762 )
    How about the same logo, with a submachine gun, a big dick, and a burned cross around his neck?

    Seriously, people need to stop being such pussies. Beastie kicks ass.
  • and Tux is far more "Professional"...

  • Daemons and texans don't mix... (Score:3, Informative)

    by imroy ( 755 ) <imroykun@gmail.com> on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:52PM (#11622273) Homepage Journal
    Some misguided individuals have taken offense [rmitz.org] to the daemon character.
    • You know, I've read this story many times since it first appeared on the net. And I don't get it - surely there are other sports teams besides the New Jersey Devils that have similar logos? I mean, you don't expect a Texan to understand hockey, but what about other sports?

  • Pentagram (Score:5, Funny)

    by turgid ( 580780 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:53PM (#11622290) Journal
    How about a pentagram and a picture of a goat sitting on a wooden throne, blood raining down and all kinds of beasts and monsters engaged in acts of wanton carnal depravity while bodies of sinners roast half-dead over bonfires?

    Time for my medication...

  • Keep it simple, I say.

    http://tinyurl.com/48ws5 [tinyurl.com]

    I think that about says it all. :-)

  • Not necessarily a Shoggoth, but demons and devils are not unheard-of in corporate identities. [bgfoods.com]

    Underwood's devil trademark dates from 1870, and is the oldest US food trademark still in use.

    "The original red devil was a real he-goat, half man, half goat, with horns, pronged spear and a tail. He was a leering demonic Lucifer, frequently portrayed in early ads dipping a whole ham into a boiling caldron as flames roar in the background and Satan's sons dance with glee. The current red devil has been stri

  • Another contest (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wylfing ( 144940 ) <brian@wy l f i ng.net> on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:55PM (#11622324) Homepage Journal
    this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside

    I have an idea for another contest. Design a sentence for the FreeBSD logo contest page that is comprehensible.

  • Fark thread (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Symb ( 182813 )
    Somebody get a high qual img of the Daemon over to Fark. Let's get a photoshop trail going.
  • 1) They get a whole bunch of crappy logos and have to back away slowly away from the contest idea because to pick one would be to turn in a good logo for a bad one; or
    2) They pick one logo that half the users like, and the other half hate, and it forks FreeBSD, causing chaos, a plague of locusts, cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria.
    Let us all pray that BSD really is dying. It may be our only hope.
  • I was told by a BSD insider at the last IETF that this was being done becuase of complaints from religious conservatives that the old mascot was satanic.

    Sigh...
    • I was told by a BSD insider at the last IETF that this was being done becuase of complaints from religious conservatives that the old mascot was satanic.

      It wouldn't surprise me.

      Consider the Swastika. This symbol of Nazism has been used by various cultures for thousands of years, for mostly benign purposes. Suppose I produced my own Linux distribution with a symbol that looks exactly like a Swastika, and say "It's not really a Swastika, it's a Navajo decorative sign" or something like that.

      The fact th

  • It the shoes. Make him look business ready. Put him in a suit. The tuxedo worked for the penguin, right?

  • Political corectness rears its head. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Vellmont ( 569020 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @03:59PM (#11622374) Homepage
    We don't hear much about the PC of the right, but this is it. PC has long been associated with idiotic bending-over-backwards to not offend causes that the left likes (minorities, disabled, etc). This seems a prime example of an organization bending to the whims of the right.

    It seems just like Fox changing the name "Best damn superbowl roadshow" to "Best darn superbowl roadshow"
  • But what about the booth babes [google.com]? Won't somebody think of the booth babes? [hope-2000.org]

  • Already found something different:BSD Diva (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    No more little demon...

    BSD Diva:
    http://members.shaw.ca/zerone/img/BSDiva.png [members.shaw.ca]

  • oh come on... (Score:2, Informative)

    by m2bord ( 781676 )
    they don't think the logo is professional enough?

    that logo is fine the way it is.

    that logo is what got me to try freebsd in the first place.

    this is what happens when companies listen to marketing wonks instead of their clients.

    they wind up wasting money on stuff that doesn't need fixing in the first place.
  • Wait, did someone just say that there is a contest to fork? Oh, I'm sorry, FreeBSD wants a new logo. If Linux has a penguin, then why can't FreeBSD have a daemon. Come on. Leave it along. I like the daemon -- complete with a badge on my PC. This is stupid.
  • What is wrong with people?

    The demon logo bugs the suits? So don't put it on a box, honestly, they'll never know, what are they going to do, go to a truly technical website?

    I say we all submit a ton of _truly_ offensive logos, and send the idea of changing the demon back to the overly religous cultural backwater it came from.

    Seriously, these people are insane. [jesussave.us] Click that last link and scan down to where it says "Apple Macintosh". Religious fundamentalists are, once again, doing their best to destory science

    • By the way, I actually think http://objective.jesussave.us/propaganda.html is a parody site, but... all the same, WTF? Don't mess with the devil! Do we have to take of Hexley's hat, too??

  • For fuck's sake! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:06PM (#11622452) Homepage Journal
    "this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside."

    I'm sick and tired of everything in the tech world needing to be made palatable to suits and PHBs.

    I realize that complaining about it will be about as effective as trying to hold back the tides with a sheet of plywood, but that doesn't mean that we have to like it or accept it quietly.

    LK
  • "The designer also certifies that the logo does not infringe
    upon the rights of any third party and that it does not
    violate any copyright."

    Only way to certify that is to do a copyright/trademark search. I hope you guys are gonna pony up the money to assure due diligence on your idea.
  • http://www.badeagle.com/journal/archives/Bushgirls .jpg

  • Why BSD is Better.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by namalc ( 66960 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:08PM (#11622475)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~marcone/bsdversuslinux.html [xs4all.nl]
  • I have the original 4.3 BSD manual, VAX-11 edition from 1986. It's 6 rainbow colored volumes plus two copies of the Master Index in a sophisticated brown. The cover of each features a cartoonish devil poking a bubble marked UNIX with a pitchfork. The part that I always found interesting is that the inside of the cover credits the design to John Lassetter, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Lucasfilm! How cool is that? That same year, he wrote and directed Luxo Jr., Pixar's first short and the origin of their logo. Here's his

  • Political correctness turning into idiocy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ugen ( 93902 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:09PM (#11622487)
    What is this with software development groups? I wonder if vacuum cleaners loose any sales because they have "Dirt Devil" brand name (Beware the power of a dirt devil). What about the New Jersey Devils, the hockey team? Or Tasmanian Devil from WB cartoons? They dont' seem to be losing money, customers or auditory because of "unholy connotations".

    If anything, this pondering to non-existant "offended" customers is a sign that a project is diverting its attention from real to imaginary problems. Logical step in a sequence of events that took FreeBSD from the true original to the project it is today.

  • No need to create a new one. Use this one [aol.com].
  • I say those who care about keeping the devil mascot should fork Free BSD into a special "devil may care" version that maintains the soul-selling culture that has allowed Free BSD to blossom into what it is today.

  • Logo, not mascot (Score:5, Informative)

    by cperciva ( 102828 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:12PM (#11622506) Homepage
    Nobody is suggesting that Beastie should cease to be the FreeBSD mascot; this is about selecting a new logo.

    The reasons for this include not just that some people consider the daemon to be offensive, but also legal issues: The daemon image is owned by Kirk McKusick [freebsd.org] and right now if companies want to use the image, they need to get permission from him. A "powered by FreeBSD" logo which is actually free for everybody to use would make things much easier.

  • Legal land mine (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dammital ( 220641 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:14PM (#11622539)
    From the announcement:
    "The designer also certifies that the logo does not infringe upon the rights of any third party and that it does not violate any copyright."

    IANAL and all that, but if I have to conduct a trademark and servicemark search, and "certify" that the logo does not infringe -- thereby making me liable for FreeBSD's use of the logo -- then $500 is chump change.

    Sorry, pass.

  • Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that you're required, by law, to spraypaint the logo on the side of every FreeBSD server; to paint the logo on a prominent street-facing wall of your business; to put it on your company letterhead; to tattoo it on the collective bared asses of your admistrative staff. After all, it's very important that all of your customers are aggressively shown the logos of each and every piece of software or office equipment that you use in your daily operations.

    Wait, you mean that the only place that Beastie is currently seen in some companies is on a sysadmin's bookshelf, or his screen when visiting FreeBSD.org, and that no one else in the entire company will ever see it (or even know what FreeBSD is or how their company uses it)? Dang! Guess I'll be making an appointment with my proctodermatologist.

    Seriously, how is this even an issue? I told my boss that I'd be installing FreeBSD back when I was first hired and started migrating away from Windows servers. I doubt that he even remembers which flavor of Free Unix I went with, and I'm 99% sure he has no idea (or interest) of the fact that their logo has a cartoon daemon. Does this actually matter to anyone?

  • Sadly Dissapointed... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by devphaeton ( 695736 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @04:57PM (#11623035)
    ...on a lot of levels.

    First off towards the religious zealots that have no problem shoving their theology into your face, but will simultaneously raise a stink over your "imagined" alignment.

    Second off, towards the Mac dorks with their kneejerk references of "THEY ALREADY HAVE, HAR HAR HAR" and posting links to pics that reference OSX. OSX is NOT FREEBSD. If you really believe that, then you just don't understand the UNIX philosophy. Go back to your art-fetish lickable computer and troll some other forum.

    Third off, for squandering the the rebellious merits of the OSS and BSD community to get in bed with big business, which will undoubtedly turn into domination, regulation and corruption.

    I have a few more but i think i've stepped on enough toes already. This actually makes me a little bit angry.

  • Here are my suggestions :) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mzs ( 595629 ) on Wednesday February 09, 2005 @07:21PM (#11624622)
    How about this Frank Kozik [erwischt.ch] picture, bonus it is still "Beastie" of a sort.

    Or if you still want a daemon, maybe this by Coop [loficustoms.com] will do. I am sure that won't be offensive...

    What in the name!? I really really cannot understand it. How can Beastie the Daemon be at all unproffesional? For crying out loud I have a "Dirt Devil" vacuum cleaner in the house! Why would FreeBSD throw away this mascot that is so well entrenched? In a sense it has such a strong "brand identity" already. Do they really want to end-up with something so generic as the NetBSD logo?

    Wow I AM a loser, I am taking this way too seriously. I never knew I was so attached to beastie.

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