Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 12 May 1996 09:39:19 +0300 (EET DST) | From | Linus Torvalds <> | Subject | Re: Linux Logo |
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On Sat, 11 May 1996, Mike Wangsmo wrote: > > THis will probably come off as a stupid question, but I need to know. > Ever since I started using Linux and *listening* to the kernel type > listservs, I have heard about the pengiun being a symbol. However, other > than hearing that Linus really likes penguins, I have no idea what a > penguin has to do with Linux. Could someone fill this gap in my > knowledge (without too much flaming for ignorance) as to what the > significance of the penguin is?
Umm.. You don't have any gap to fill in.
"Linus likes penguins". That's it. There was even a headline on it in some Linux Journal some time ago (I was bitten by a Killer Penguin in Australia - I'm not kidding). Penguins are fun.
As to why use a penguin as a logo? No good reason, really. But a logo doesn't really ave to _mean_ anything - it's the association that counts. And I can think of many worse things than have linux being associated with penguins.
Having a penguin as a logo also gives more freedom to people wanting to use linux-related material: instead of being firmly fixed with a specific logo (the triangle, or just "Linux 2.0" or some other abstract thing), using something like a penguin gives people the chance to make modifications that are still recognizable.
So you can have a real live penguin on a CD cover, for example, and people will get the association. Or you can have a penguin that does something specific (a Penguin writing on wordperfect for the WP Linux CD, whatever - you get the idea).
Compare that to a more abstract logo (like the windows logo - it's not a bad logo in itself). You can't really do anything with a logo like that. It just "is".
Anyway, go to "http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/" for some nice examples..
Linus
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