Why does linux use a pengiun ?

[plenderj]

My girlfriend asked me that the other day, and I couldnt come up with anything concrete.

Perhaps our dear friend Linus Torvalds likes penguins ?... or is there a more sinister reason ?

[scsa20]

who knows, who cares

[plenderj]

Ya know you're ****ing useless you are

[scsa20]

People tell me that everyday

[aknisely]

Hey, you get off easy. I'm told "useless ****ing"

[scsa20]

rrrrrrriiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhtttttttt.........wwwwwwhhhhhhaaaaaatttttteeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrr

[Jimmy Changas]

because linus.. was too wimpy to get something like a tiger.. ora big giant shark as a mascot..

[plenderj]

But come on, a penguin ?
What the **** is that about ?

[JungleMan]

user friendliness i heard..or something like that...pretty ****ed up view for the hardest to use OS in history...

[plenderj]

No, you're forgetting Novell Netware

[HarryW]

Linux isn't that bad. It just has a tendecy to confuse the stupid

[filburt1]

Originally posted by plenderj
Perhaps our dear friend Linus Torvalds likes penguins

I think that actually was true.

[parksie]

They're nice fried and served with barbecue sauce

[Helger]

Another reason: Penguins like Linux don't have very nice 'look and feel' and they aren't user friendly...

Helger

[InvisibleDuncan]

Penguins were the first birds to be able to use Linux with any degree of competency (emus were faster, but their code is full of bugs).

Honest.

[GoFigure]

Here is what I have heard about that:

Why a Penguin?
The following is a quote from Linus Torvalds:

Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think "cuddly". Take another breath, and think "cute". Go back to "cuddly" for a while (and go on breathing), then think "contented".

With me so far? Good..

Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), "contented" means it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed on herring. Take it from me, I'm an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options.

Now, working on that angle, we don't really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be looking at the "stuffed to its brim with herring" angle here.

So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming.

(*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to stand up. Think "bean bag" here.

Now, if you have problems associating yourself with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think "chocolate" or something, but you get the idea.

Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring. Still with me?

NOW comes the hard part. With this image firmly etched on your eyeballs, you then sketch a stylized version of it. Not a lot of detail - just a black brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a brush where the thickness of the line varies). THAT requires talent. Give people the outline, and they should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost ]"Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just stuffed with herring", and small children will jump up and down and scream "mommy mommy, can I have one too?".

Then we can do a larger version with some more detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world, but I don't think we really want to give any "macho penguin" image here about Atlas or anything). That more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon. But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and the others would just be that cuddly penguin being used as an actor in some tableau.

Linus


The second quote is from when Linus announced Linux v2.0 on Usenet:

Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.

Linus Torvalds

[plenderj]

interesting

[HarryW]

The man is a genius.

[chenko]

Originally posted by plenderj
My girlfriend asked me that the other day, and I couldnt come up with anything concrete.

Perhaps our dear friend Linus Torvalds likes penguins ?... or is there a more sinister reason ?

.... coz they dont moan like models

[Stefan Raab]

the bird eats the fish, the fish rule, and who rules the fish?