Re: [Gimp-user] OT: Was: Gimp name-picking

[houghi <houghi houghi org>]

On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:51:30PM -0800, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
> Frankly, and meaning no offense to any party, I do think that this discussion
> is a bit absurd.  I mean it is as if someone proposed changing the name of
> the Empire State Building, or the name of Topeka, Kansas.  What's the point?
> Everybody already knows these things by their current names, and that kind
> of inertia is historically almost impossible to change by fiat.  

Full ack. Take openSUSE. Many people still call it SuSE even though the
original name is S.u.S.E, then SuSE, then SUSE and now openSUSE.
Renaming it would have more disadvantages then it would have advantages.
The ONLY advantage would be that it won't have the same meaning as some
other word. The disadvatages are plenty.

> P.S.  I happen to like the name Gimp.  It's consistant with the (intentionally
> humorous) tradition of having the names of most or all GNUish (copylefted?)
> free software packages begin with the letter `g', and also be easily pro-
> nounced.  In this case, it all rolls easily off the tounge.  I was explaining
> to my neighbor just the other night that "Gimp is the GNU Image Processing
> package".

There is also an advantage (at least for some) for those that never heard
of the program and think of it as something else: They won't forget it.
It is something marketeers dream about and we have it for free (as in
beer).

A nice piece of reading: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/305250.html

houghi
-- 
Filled with mingled cream and amber I will drain that glass again. Such
hilarious visions clamber Through the chambers of my brain -- Quaintest
thoughts -- queerest fancies Come to life and fade away;  Who cares how 
time advances? I am drinking ale today.              -- Edgar Allan Poe