Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 08:58:55 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Louis Bertrand <louis@signalpath.on.ca> Cc: Jim Mock <jim@corp.au.triax.com>, eT <eT@KryptoKom.DE>, FreeBSD Chat <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG>, FreeBSD Advocacy <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: what's in a name? Message-ID: <36DD5C3F.A0FC6C1F@softweyr.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903030847300.1372-100000@tronix.signalpath.on.ca>
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Louis Bertrand wrote:
>
> Pardon an interloper from OpenBSD. I just subscribed and caught this
> thread which echoes a draft of an opinion piece I was going to do for
> DaemonNews.
>
> On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, Jim Mock wrote:
>
> > > could it be that the word linux just 'sounds' more like a friendly
> > > operating system than FreeBSD? and that because of this new users
> > > are more susceptible to using it?
> > >
> >
> > Eh? How does Linux sound more user-friendly?
> >
>
> 1) Because it's associated with a real person's name, whose hype as a
> philantropic boy-genius from Finland catches the attention of non-techies
> (may it's that Mozart thing...). I'm not running Linus down -- he is
> articulate and media-savvy and has a lot to do with the success of Linux.
>
> <humour> But if you changed the name of FreeBSD to Jordan, you'd get in
> trouble with Nike. </humour>
TerryBSD lives!
> 2) Because a name is one of the hardest things to remember about a person
> -- it's an arbitrary choice by parents, and not tied back to a physical
> characteristic. Hence you try to make the name representative and
> associated with mnemonic clues (Linux -> Linus) A big no-no in marketing
> is using initials (IBM is big
> enough to get away with it -- a freenix OS isn't). Try explaining BSD to a
> non-techie, then quiz him/her the next day. If they even remember the
> name, you'll get DBS, BBS, BSB...
Or worse, DSB, that terrible disease that afflicts teenage boys EVERYwhere.
Comments about TerryDSB are unwelcome in this forum...
> Hence you use something that evokes a
> warm fuzzy response and you're more likely to be remembered. Media scribes
> are like the rest of us: over-worked and underpaid. You need to catch
> their attention.
We'll have to make the TerryBSD daemon thinner, with freckles. That
oughtta remove any sinister connotations.
> You won't solve the problem by going into denial.
I can if I deny there is a problem. I don't have any personal need
for FreeBSD to become a whopping commercial success; I do not seek
the validation of the marketplace for my choices in using and
contributing to FreeBSD. How's that for denial?
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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