Re: [Gimp-gui] GIMP ---> Pixi: suggested name change
- From: marty <marty heavyreckoning com>
- To: gimp-gui-list gnome org
- Subject: Re: [Gimp-gui] GIMP ---> Pixi: suggested name change
- Date: Wed, 10 May 2017 19:15:40 -0400
At this point I'm going to ask what many are probably thinking but out
of politeness aren't speaking up. I am not as bound by those
constraints. Are you trolling?
On 05/10/2017 06:09 PM, Joshua Coppersmith-Heaven wrote:
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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