Death of a Penguin

[rowan]

Heading to work this morning on the Boston T to find that the entire subway car was plastered with posters of a rather silly looking penguin. Of course, our little linux friend has now been incorporated by IBM whose suspicious "e-server ads" (you know the ones: peace, love, linux) were accompanying the antarctic rebel all over this particular car.

I was forced to sit back and marvel over this transformation of a symbol that once carried an anti-Microsoft, anti-computer corporation, pro-little user sentiment. It's quite a feat of advertising, actually. I've seen the little devil spray painted (along with peace signs and hearts, which is an entirely different thread) all over Boston and Cambridge. It seems that IBM has managed to assimilate a symbol after having snuck it out from under the little users, but is trying to maintain its countercultural cache.

I was hoping some of the "old-timers" here could reflect a little about the death of the linux icon.

rowan

[This message has been edited by rowan (edited 07-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by rowan (edited 07-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by rowan (edited 07-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by rowan (edited 07-11-2001).]

[rh71]

Where do open-source users get money to advertise the penguin all over the place?

Of course you'd see it from "someone" like IBM. I know, that wasn't your point, but think about it. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Comtech]

the arctic rebel
I have to belabour a point, but Penguins come from the antarctic, which is why you'll never see a polar bear, and a penguin in the same photo. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[rowan]

I'll edit my post per your request...

Any subtantive replies, folks?

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

r.

[MiKe85]

I don't know about the "death of the linux icon." but i'll tell you every time you ride the T in Boston, it's a new adventure.. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Too bad I moved before all this started happening..LOL

Actually, maybe I never noticed it in the first place.

[John Lowell]

rowan,

You're surprized? It's only the naive that wouldn't have expected something like this to occur. And the problem here has absolutely nothing to do with IBM or with big corporations generally; IBM is simply doing what one might expect them to do. Rather, it can be traced to what is so casually presupposed about the innocence of the so-called "free source" community, or anyone else that attempts so studiously to clothe themselves in the garb of the laid-back or the thoughtful. Come on.

John Lowell

[rowan]

John,

I don't see your point.

r.

[John Lowell]

rowan,

I believe I referred to presuppositions, rowan, although you did speak specifically of IBM's having "snuck" a symbol "out from under the little users". Perhaps this is how one might gain the impression about good and evil that I did, eh?

Regards.

[CMonster]

I have to belabour a point, but Penguins come from the antarctic, which is why you'll never see a polar bear, and a penguin in the same photo.

Maybe there is another reason you do not see a polar bear and a penguin in the same photo -maybe the bears ate them all. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

I was the tail end of the "hippie" movement -by the time I was 13 the movement was all but over and those that remained were either burn-outs, fanatics, or those that had transformed into something more radical. Most of the "hippies" just grew up and got jobs - maybe Tux just landed his first "real job."

<IMG SRC="http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/squirtguin.gif" border=0>

<IMG SRC="http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/globe3.gif" border=0>


<IMG SRC="http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/grnpeng1.jpg" border=0>


<IMG SRC="http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/tuxsuper1.gif" border=0>


--for more Tux fun:

http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/Linergizer4.gif


--and for fairness and balance who could resist NDC's famous persecution of Tux by Microsoft:
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/LinuxShock.gif




[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 07-11-2001).]

[rowan]

John,

If you want to read it that way, it's fine with me but you are still begging the question of my post.

r.

[John Lowell]

rowan,

Since I haven't seen myself as having relativized your remarks, rowan, I believe I've already addressed the question raised by your post.

John Lowell

[flea]

http://www.slashdot.org/articles/01/04/20/0025217.shtml

Bandwagons being what they are, a big company is going to jump on at some point and market the rebellion. Other than a large corporation profiting from a free product, the only problem is that we cant feel so 1337 and rebellios about being a linux user http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif Companies like Red Hat etc are already profiting from linux, the only difference being IBM are big.

[John Lowell]

rowan,

I really don't know how I might clarify, rowan. One thing I might offer is an objection to the presummed good/evil dichotomization so typical of presentations of this kind. What is presupposed about IBM is a certain malevolence and about people that spraypaint peace signs, hearts and the Linux penguin only a thorough-going pristinity. That way of looking at the world typically betrays either the most egregious naivete or a palpable personal dishonesty. Believe me there is nothing intrinsically more pure about the Linux "community" than anyone else.

John Lowell

[rowan]

John,

Where in my post did I mention good or evil or "pure" or "impure"? I certainly wasn't thinking in these terms, nor was I lamenting a lost symbol in spite of the funny title of the post.

I was simply marveling at the transformation of an icon and hoping for some reflections by more knowledgable and experienced folks than myself about what significance such an appropriation means for the industry. Just a state of the industry question, more or less. Nothing much else between the lines.

r.

[This message has been edited by rowan (edited 07-11-2001).]