Re: [Gimp-gui] GIMP ---> Pixi: suggested name change

[Joshua Coppersmith-Heaven <joshua feedbackfoundation org uk>]

Hi Jehan,

Thanks for letting the message through :).

I don't think that just because something is a community project or 
non-commercial means that it doesn't have to be well designed! Quite the 
opposite - things like open-source software and non-hierarchical 
organizations have the potential to show a different way of working to a 
large audience, and should be shown how good and effective things can be 
done in this way in contrast with massive corporations and for-profit 
enterprises.

In terms of timing, it sounds like GIMP 3 will be quite a big 
development, and therefore could be a good opportunity for giving a 
fresh look to the project.

I think Pixi is fun and playful as a name, but you are right in terms of 
similarity of name with the existing software. However, we could always 
just write to them first and ask them if they would give permission for 
a similar name to be used. There is never any harm in asking for things 
like this.  They are also not making hay with the pixie theme (they just 
have a palette paint logo), so something more characterful and unique 
would be a significant difference.

But maybe the idea could be thrown out there for the community to 
cloudstorm new name ideas? Get the developers and users to help come up 
with and choose a new name, a bit of community involvement?

Cheers


Joshua


On 08/05/17 17:33, Jehan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 2017-05-08 16:51, Joshua Coppersmith-Heaven wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > GIMP is a great programme, but it is not a great name. Changing its
>
> I have been wondering whether I should let this email in (since you 
> were not subscribed to the mailing lists, your email goes into a 
> pending queue for admin approval; next time, subscribe if you want 
> your email to get directly in) since it felt off-topic.  For 
> information, the gimp-gui mailing list is to discuss graphical 
> interface and user experience improvements.
>
> Well it can be argued that the name of the program is as much about 
> user experience as the GUI, so that's why I let the message pass. :-)
>
> > identity to something more likeable will help to get more users, and
> > potentially more developers.
>
> This question often comes back into discussion and basically a 
> possible answer is that first GIMP is not a commercial product. We are 
> not trying to get "market share", just to make a high quality image 
> software, many of us in their spare time. Reasons are various: many 
> for fun, some because they use it and want the best they can get for 
> their usage, some because they like to work on advanced image 
> manipulation algorithms, whatever else you want… The fact is that few 
> people care about what the program is named in the end.
>
> Another point is that even considering market share, it could be 
> argued that GIMP is a very famous brand now. It is known by millions 
> of people, not only in the FLOSS world, but even people who don't even 
> know what Free Software means, on all main 3 platforms (Windows, OSX, 
> GNU/Linux). So changing the name may not be the best move. Many 
> companies proved that it is actually possible to do so and be 
> successful, but they would do it first because their product/company 
> have a bad reputation at some point that they expect to clean out with 
> a name change; and especially a name change needs to be done together 
> with a very heavy marketing move. Every big name change of well-known 
> products or companies is accompanied with massive advertisement to 
> make it work. Being a community project, this is quite difficult to do 
> for us and may very well end up as a big failure.
>
> When I see that years later, people still call it "The Gimp" instead 
> of GIMP (I even discussed with someone who was writing books about 
> GIMP and they would be titled with the old orthography; when I would 
> tell him, he said he preferred the old writing and won't change for 
> next books)… What can we expect?!
>
> > There is a commercial image editor called Pixie (with an e), but not
> > Pixi. This makes sense, as long as the software remains a pixel-based
> > editor. I've thought about the name for a while, before google came
> > out with their latest phone!
>
> Trying to go for a name very close to an existing similar software is 
> the key to a big failure and probably even a lawsuit (even if not 
> exactly the same, this other company could tell one try to confuse 
> people). Why would we do this?
>
> > The logo could also feature some kind of pixelated pixi type character
> > (think a stylised zelda character), to replace to paintbrush-dog,
> > which seems to not have much in connection with the name gimp.... or
> > am I missing something?
>
> It's true that Wilber does not have much relationship to the name or 
> GIMP… well do most mascots? Has a penguin any relationship to an OS 
> kernel?
> But a lot of people find this character very funny. And as I said, 
> having fun is a very important part of any community project. 
> Contributors don't usually contribute to find themselves in a company 
> atmosphere again, doing boring business chores and being yelled at by 
> insulting managers because they are not corporate enough.
>
> > Be interested to know your thoughts,
>
> I am not fully against name changes in some future, if ever GIMP were 
> getting a more organized community and some people who wanted to go 
> further. But right now, I feel this would just go wrong.
>
> Also I would hate we lose the for-fun part of GIMP development and 
> around. This should never be forgotten or else there would be no 
> reason anymore to continue (for me at least). If that means having a 
> shift with common "good" business practices and having a name which 
> makes some too-serious people cringe, well so be it. I don't mind too 
> much (personally again).
>
> Also I remind that this name is only a problem in some 
> English-speaking countries. Other countries don't have any problem 
> with this name in their language. I personally only discovered that 
> this was a word in English after starting to contribute (reading 
> messages similar as yours), even though I had known GIMP for years 
> already.
>
> Jehan
>
> > All the best
> >
> >
> > Joshua
> >
> >
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