Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 11:49:00 -0700 From: underway@comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) To: des@des.no (=?iso-8859-1?q?Dag-Erling_Sm=F8rgrav?=) Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Spelling Message-ID: <ybekybcn37.kyb@mail.comcast.net> In-Reply-To: <xzp65jng6kw.fsf@dwp.des.no> ( =?iso-8859-1?q?Dag-Erling_Sm=F8rgrav's_message_of?= "Sat, 20 Sep 2003 11:19:43 %2B0200") References: <20030919164821.2b1d18d1.max@willystudios.com> <c4wuc4d6o8.uc4@mail.comcast.net> <xzpznh0fzfu.fsf@dwp.des.no> <xgoexgcu21.exg@mail.comcast.net> <xzp65jng6kw.fsf@dwp.des.no>
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des@des.no (Dag-Erling Smørgrav) writes: > underway@comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) writes: >> (1) AFAIK, the mascot was first published with some "4.2 BSD" >> documentation in 1982 or 1983. > > Wrong. Here's Phil Foglio's original, from 1976: I will quibble with that, but thanks for providing evidence for the essential point: the use of demon images in association with UNIX came before, or at least independent of, the acronym "BSD", so it originally had nothing to do with the word "beastie". (I will still wonder whether "BSD/Beastie" had something to do with the UNIX mascot becoming associated only (?) with BSD, but that's a different issue.) The quibble: If we are to believe http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/daemon.html, the earliest BSD daemon images were created by Lasseter and copyrighted by McKusick; AFAI(still)K, they were first published in 1982-3. Foglio's image (copyrighted by USENIX) shows several demons which would be UNIX (or USENIX) demon mascots. Note that the demons have cloven hoofs and sharp teeth. Foglio's design was used as late as 1991 in a generic (non-BSD-specific) UNIX/USENIX context. But I would rather not believe freebsd.org, and from your comment above, it seems that you don't believe it either. Nobody may speak officially for BSD and, practically, any reasonable daemon image would be considered a BSD daemon (or UNIX daemon, in a UNIX context). (Old European art is full of demons to copy or derive from.) And some will choose to use multiple demons (presumably not all named "Beastie").
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