A mascot
I saw some people talking about a mascot so I decided to start a thread about it. With a name like haiku I think the most obvious mascot would be the panda. Haiku is japanese so it fits perfectly, not only that its a very cute animal :).
I saw some people talking about a mascot so I decided to start a thread about it. With a name like haiku I think the most obvious mascot would be the panda. Haiku is japanese so it fits perfectly, not only that its a very cute animal :).
Comments
A mascot
Look on the teams page on the Haiku site - each team has a list of unassigned tasks anyone could pick up. It really isn't that hard.
As far as the mascot thing goes, as you have admitted, you are the only one fighting really hard for a mascot. There's also others who agree with me that having a mascot is childish, geeky and unprofessional. I certainly can't justify spending another stupid amount of time responding to your entire post, especially as we're getting increasingly off-topic.
Rest assured I'll be happy to pick up the argument again if Haiku ever looks like it's about to adopt a mascot.
Simon
A mascot
Man, I leave this thread alone for a couple days and it goes all over the place, lol.
Czeslaw, you always write too much =P
Seeing as how this topic (as far as I know) hasn't been addressed by the admin team, I think it's safe to say that we're sticking with the leaves.
BTW, the leaves were originally drawn by Stuart McCoy, but I made the circular icon =)
doh, still gotta add that to the forum templates
*disappears for a few minutes*
A mascot
You may be right about that. But then the question becomes: Too much for what? Let's consider the possibilities at length...
(Sorry, couldn't resist...) :-)
A mascot
*sigh* this is all I'll reply to.
Do you mean to install as in difficult to install? If so, OBSD is not easy to install for those who need a GUI to do anything (ie those who can't read), otherwise it just requires a bit of thinking and that's it.
And as a side note, I've *never* had to re-install OBSD. I can't say the same for *any* other OS out there, can you?
A mascot
From what I hear, this isn't the case anymore. They are moving elsewhere.
A mascot
So then, who is working on what unoffically. Even in the unassigned column (if there's anything left) there is code written on some of them, which means that someone may be writing it still (though maybe unofficially known or unknown). So, why risk re-inventing the wheel. Why not ask if someone is working on something.
I've said this in multiple threads, most of us don't have the skill that is required to write the internals of an OS. But, OS's need support apps, etc. These are *low* on the priority list for the Haiku team, but it's all some of us can do. And from what I can tell, there is no list for these things.
A mascot
This makes sense. Perhaps you could write to Sikosis, team lead for the Preferences Team, and request an assignment? (I realize that this runs counter to the advice that others have already posted here, but there may be more than one way to skin this cat....) The preference applications are reportedly a great place to start making code contributions to the Haiku project. I bet that Sikosis could set you up with a task that is not already being done by someone else...
A mascot
I'm sure they wouldn't complain if you fix their bugs, and you could start from there, if you want.
A mascot
Do professional Linux distros like Novell SuSE or Mandrake have a stupid fluffy Tux around? No, they don't
Mdk uses a tophat and magic wand.
Several canadian sports teams have leaves as mascots. I know how yer hearts are set on a leaf.. but.
Having a mascot makes you "geeky" and geeky is somehow amatuerish'? Boy, what some people will resort to, to get their way. wow. We have several mascots. moe, Aremodoki, aremodoki's cohort. etc.
If you had to ask...
Silly silly silly
<i>How come Mozilla *never* got accepted among businesses, OEMs, etc as an IE replacement but Firefox is being accepted, *whilst in beta*</i>
Yes, this can all be attributed to the mascot (not the product). :P
<i>Firefox has a professional image. Mozilla has a stupid interface, in-jokes (look for about:kitchensink in older builds), and a cruddy dumb mascot.</i>
<i>Do professional Linux distros like Novell SuSE or Mandrake have a stupid fluffy Tux around? No, they don't </i>
What would you call the chameleon on SuSE's site? Or the tophat on Mandrake? Shaky examples.
Re: Silly silly silly
I certainly wouldn't call a top hat a mascot, any more than a leaf motif is a macot. It is more of a logo, which helps to build a professional visual identity for the product, IMHO.
Simon
A mascot
I think a mascot is a good idea. But, no mascot is better than a bad mascot.
I don't think we should aim for the overly professional boring lawyer-style. (Taking lawyers as professional and boring.)
With "normal" user I mean the kind who, besides the geeks, liked BeOS (and probably likes OSX today). A good mascot will help these users to remember Haiku. It sparks interest and helps bring a nice atmosphere. Of course this won't work without a good, (professional) design, but a good mascot helps and attracts people rather than deter.
A mascot has nothing to do with geekienes other than it can be used in a geeky way. (As can a logo/anything. Apple logo tattoo anyone?)
Finally, the users (geeks) who have come to Haiku because they hate linux, bsd et al including their cozy unproffesional logos are a very small percentage of Haiku's future potential users. Cute doesn't necessarily equals bad. People like cute.
(And besides, who said Firefox has nog mascot? Have you seen the logo? Is that not mascot enough?)
Meaning of Haiku more than Japanese
Isn't Haiku a Hawaiian term also. A pretty hula girl would make a nice mascot! :D
A mascot
Well, I see my post has generated a lot of replies. I just got out of boot camp, they wouldn't let me use the computer a whole lot, lol. To all the people who say that a mascot is geeky, there is no question on wether there is going to be a mascot. Just on wether it is official or not. Some people want a mascot, so there is going to be one, period. So how about some more discussion on what a good mascott would be, and less people complaining that it is geeky. If you don't want it to be official fine. But when I make some games for haiku, I'm going to use the unofficial mascot for them. And if it is geeky so what? Like some people said is it going to affect whether or not they are going to use it? Probably not, but it might help people remember haiku.
A mascot
What would be the point of an "unofficial" mascot? So that you and your friends could refer to Haiku by some means other than the means used by the rest of us in the community?
And...who are you? Do you use some name other than "Lord Ryan" when you submit your code contributions to CVS? Or perhaps you are not a major contributor to the project? If the latter is true, as I suspect it is, then just what is it -- if not major code contributions -- that makes you believe that you have any right whatsoever to attempt to "rebrand" the project by associating some "mascot" with it? Are you heading up the Haiku admin team these days? Did I miss some announcement?
By the way, you may wish to tone down the "marching orders" prose style while you are at it. You are not in "boot camp" here...
There are plenty of things that I want but cannot have. (A world without imperialist aggression and atrocious war crimes, for instance.) I don't expect that all my desires will be satisfied, however, and neither should you if you wish to appear to others to be an adult...
A mascot
Unofficial mascots can be bad for our business, but i suppose good for others':
http://www.splitreason.com/productdetail.php?id=99
There's plenty of other examples with skewed logos and mascots completely defaced out there that people are making money off of... but they really aren't helping out the original cause.
I can guarantee at this point, with the current admin team, there will never be a mascot other than variations of the leaves, it just leaves too much open and brings up too many other problems for us to deal with... remember that we're all doing this in our spare time.
A mascot
Are mascots cute? Yes. Are mascots fun? Yes. Do mascots improve brand recognition? Arguably so.
Do people run Linux because of the penguin or FreeBSD because of the little devil? I'm betting not. I'm betting they run them because they are cheap as free, and have lots of apps with that same price tag. I'm betting they run them because they make good servers and run on lots of different hardware. I'm betting they run them because they gave up Microsoft for lent (or for-ever).
I'm sure a mascot might help people "remember haiku." And a good mascot would probably improve the project's branding. But my opinion is that the goal of the devs is to provide, through Haiku, the best experience users have ever had with a computer. That was one of Be's goals, and I think it's a worthy goal. The best experience. That's what they'll remember. And no amount of fuzziness is going to make them remember that experience more or less vividly.
That's not to say I am against a mascot. I'd love one. But, deciding on a mascot (or the lack of one) shouldn't be an issue that divides the community, should it?
Kurtis makes a good point. Mascots are very visible (that's the idea, anyway), and people are going to make knock-offs and look-alikes for their own profit. And if we don't want knock-offs and look-alikes, we have two options:
1. No mascot.
2. Litigate people who rip off the mascot.
The word litigate makes me shudder.
Lord Ryan, I understand where you are coming from wanting to brand your games with the official or unofficial mascot of Haiku. But if you want a mascot so badly, why not just come up with one for your games? I mean, if people are seeing the Haiku mascot (official or otherwise) in your game, then they must already be running Haiku and we are "preaching to the choir," so to speak.
I guess my point is that when R1 is done, there will be exactly one thing that Haiku needs the most. Users. Lots and lots of users. Tons of users. Users drive development. If we want apps for Haiku, then we need users. And I would personally prefer that the people with the greatest stake in Haiku (active devs and community members) be focused on a truly fantastic user-experience, rather than refereeing disputes over a mascot. Focus on something that will make you go, "Hey man, ditch that Winblows and get Haiku. The air tastes better over here."
Honestly, which would you recommend to your friends? An OS with a cute mascot, or an OS that makes you coffee and irons your pants and lets you get things done?
If we can have both amicably, that's great. But if I have to choose just one....
I'm going for the great OS and the best experience.
(hmm.. and a hula girl couldn't hurt :wink: )
A mascot
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned as there is too many posts now to read in one sitting.
I wanted to suggest a Japanese Akita for a mascot, seeing we're kind of on a Japanese theme with the name.
Once the dog of the shogun, they're known for their intelligence, dignity, courage, alertness, endurance and extraordinary strength.
But quite likely they're best known for their devotion:
Maybe name the mascot Hachiko too, that would be so sweet.
They're a beautiful dog, here's a pic of my beloved Yogi, who sadly isn't with me anymore. (I miss him so much)
I think he'd look pretty awesome in cartoon form and the qualities of the breed fit in well with the qualities of a fantastic operating system, plus being Japanese is a huge bonus.
Hope you all liked my suggestion.
Kari.
Re: A mascot
IIRC KDE has a dragon named Konki. :(
A mascot
Unoffical mascots that everyone uses will by default become the mascot of the OS whether anyone likes it or not. And I'd like to know how someone is supposed to refer to an OS by the mascot? I know I don't call Linux Tux or OpenBSD Puffy. Do you?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but last I checked a community consists of more than just developers.
Ditto to you too.
Mirror.
Mystified
Hmm...where do I begin...
1. "Unofficial mascots that everyone uses..."
I would not use your "unofficial" mascot. So not everyone would use it. More to the point, the Haiku administration team has also decided against use of any "mascot" or visual identity other than the (excellent and tasteful) ones that have already been developed and published. Why do you persist in your disrespectful disregard of this fact?
2. "...will by default become the mascot of the OS whether anyone likes it or not."
How so? Even when the people actually creating the OS are opposed to the idea and "like it...not"? Are you truly as unconcerned as you seem with the considered views of the very people whose efforts and code -- all contributed voluntarily -- you are attempting to appropriate and rebrand? Is this how a respectful member of the community should act, in your opinion?
3. "And I'd like to know how someone is supposed to refer to an OS by the mascot? I know I don't call Linux Tux or OpenBSD Puffy. Do you?"
No, of course not, and here I believe that you are feigning ignorance (or at least I certainly hope so). Not only linguistic references exist. Visual references also exist. I should not have to make this point explicitly at this juncture, and I'm ashamed to have to do so, since this entire discussion is about what designers call "visual identity". Still I will oblige, if only so that no one can claim that I failed to make an effort: The "swoosh" says Nike even more than the letters "Nike" themselves. This is a non-linguistic reference. How could you not know that this is the central point of contention in a discussion that has continued -- excruciatingly -- for nine pages at this point?
I really don't understand you. Every single one of my sentences prior to the advisory ones that you quote above ended in a question mark. Not one of them could reasonably be construed as an "order". You appear not to be reading with sufficient care.
A final point: Please see all posts made by Kurtis in this thread. His posts clearly communicate the views and decisions made to date by the admin team on this question.
Re: Mystified
You are being an ass. Do I have to explicitly say everything? Or can I depend on people using common sense reading terms that are used every day with there proper meaning?
The admin team is (since they are human) falible. I believe them to have made a mistake in this regards. So, your going to have to explain to me how having an opinion and "sticking to it" is disrespectful.
You fail to realize what the term community means. In real life if the society in general (or a significant portion thereof) disagrees with a law the government in charge has a duty to change said law (as long as it doesn't endanger public health, etc).
Here I believe we have a significant portion of the community that wants a mascot or thinks that one is a good idea. Thus, I believe that having one is in order. To not do so (or at least entertain the idea) is contrary to the idea of a community. In the latter case here we have a dictatoryship.
Actually I was being an ass to make a point. That being that the OS is not refered to by an icon, it's refered to by its name. Further branding would be good as this is basically a no-name OS (as in no-one knows about it).
Actually you appear not to be typing with sufficient care. You must know that people aren't living in your head when you type. So, when you typed such things there was a definite aggressive tone that made you sound like a border-line asshole. This made you seem as though you were giving what you were scolding the other for. You should mind that in the future.
See falibility comment above.
I vote to lock this thread...
I vote we lock this thread...
While the discussion about mascots is certainly interesting and obviously a large debate - I think this thread has become much less a discussion, and more of a flame war. It seems that anyone posting to this thread just adds more fuel to the fire at this point... and it's become much less constructive.
I would guess that the Haiku Admin team has at least reviewed some of the posts in this thread, but at this point, they probably have made a decision one way or another and further discussion for the benefit of an official mascot is probably useless at this point.
I personally don't care either way, but I do shake my head each time I read a new post in this thread.
A mascot
(I only read the first few posts, okay ;) )
I like the idea of crane for a mascot.
A mascot
Here is a little cute mascot :)
A mascot
that is cute, i like it. i dont really feel that our mascot should be an inanimate object. so i dont really like the idea of leaves.
A mascot
Once again, the powers that be, and a lot of long term BeOS users, have voted against a mascot. There is not going to be an official mascot.
A mascot
LOL, when was the vote?
Yes, the people in charge here have stated that for the forseeable future there will be no mascot. BUT, it must be mentioned that there is a significant presence here that want one and view this decision as a mistake. To ignore such a thing is a mistake.
But then again, this project is based in the US and as such since about 51% of americans are used to ignoring people outside and inside there country, it isn't necessarily a problem for the admins (people of like minds tend to flock together).
On the topic of that pic posted here. I think it's too cute-sy.
A mascot
LOL! I like! its cool!!! =)
è bellissimo! =D
A mascot
1. Please, no politics here.
2. I can't see where "this project is based in the US", as many (probably half, if not more) contributors are europeans.
Edit: Fixed the quote stuff
A mascot
A mascot
I'm just going to lock this thread... When we get closer to a time when this is appropriate, I may let it start up again, but its just becoming a place for flames and meaningless arguments.
The "vote" for a mascot was overridden by a resounding "no" from the entire development team during a private meeting (which I stated about 4 pages ago in this thread).
This isn't our focus right now, although we may come back to this in the future... so let's be more productive and less divided in our community for the time being =)
SPOON! -The Tick