Linux is light, flexible and fast. Shouldn't the Linux logo portray that? The penguin logo really doesn't make any sense to me; its not light, flexible, or fast either. If anything, it represents several things that really don't describe Linux in any way, shape or form.
If any operating system needs a 'fat' mascot, it's windows... Like, how about we switch from the windows logo, to a giant bloated whale... I admit I use windows 7 on a laptop, but honestly, I am afraid to switch due to driver issues. Aside from that, it's got a Core i7 processor, so only Vista/ Windows 7 can really fully utilize the set of 8x virtual processors (Windows 9.x and XP Pro can't). By the way, I apologize to hardcore Linux fans, for mentioning Windows...
Anyway, back to the Linux, fat, happy penguin... Honestly, something like an antelope, cheetah, or whatever makes more sense... To me a penguin just doesn't really describe Linux. Yes a penguin is small-- (ok, linux doesn't take as much memory as windows, it's sort of small). BUT, a penguin is also fat, and not very agile (at least out of the water)--and most definitely not flexible (ever seen a penguin walk?). Linux is agile & flexible, due to the myriad of ways you can customize the open source operating system. On the other hand, Windows is not flexible at all; it's closed source and your degree of control is nothing compared to Linux.
With Linux you can customize the Kernel, add or remove almost anything, and you can set the OS to leave almost all of your resources free (any webmaster knows how light and responsive Linux servers are compared to Windows servers). Maybe, the Linux mascot should be a ghost... because hey, what's lighter than a ghost? The only problem with that, is that ghosts are dead (well, ghosts are alive, but represent people that have moved on). Also, the truth is, Linux is alive and well--so I guess that shoots down the whole ghost idea (although I'm sure Bill Gates would love to see the Linux die!)
So how about a new mascot for Linux? Is anyone with me on this?
So what would be the perfect mascot for Linux? How about a cheetah? How about a dragon or a unicorn? Yeah, unicorns are hot...
ReplyDeleteWell, here is the answer.
ReplyDeleteLinus Torvalds, the inventor of the Linux Kernel, goes by 'tux'. This is why the penguin was adopted as the mascot of the Linux kernel.
In other words, it's out of respect for the inventor of the kernel.