A mascot

101
SigmaNunki wrote:
I thought of these programs to write but they have either been turned down or already done/being done, where do you want me. IMO, this is an acceptible request. Someone willing to work that has given examples of things that (s)he was thinking of doing wants something to do. The request didn't even get a reply. This is something, IMO, that is unacceptable for a lead to do.

I’m sorry, but as other people already said, you should,roughly in this order:
A. Have a look at the code.
B. Find a task.
C. Write some code.
D. Contact the team leader saying you have written some code
E. Eventually, post the code somewhere so that we can have a look at it.

If you think this is long and / or too complex, try to send a mail to Linus Torvalds saying you want to help (without code, of course).

BTW, the above sequence of actions is what I did to “be able” to contribute to Haiku.

102
SigmaNunki wrote:
And if they didn't want to answer or get these emails then they should (it's been mentioned in another thread) put these things that they want done, but are a low priority on a web page somewhere for those of us to pick up.
Look on the teams page on the Haiku site - each team has a list of unassigned tasks anyone could pick up. It really isn't that hard.

As far as the mascot thing goes, as you have admitted, you are the only one fighting really hard for a mascot. There’s also others who agree with me that having a mascot is childish, geeky and unprofessional. I certainly can’t justify spending another stupid amount of time responding to your entire post, especially as we’re getting increasingly off-topic.

Rest assured I’ll be happy to pick up the argument again if Haiku ever looks like it’s about to adopt a mascot.

Simon

103

Man, I leave this thread alone for a couple days and it goes all over the place, lol.

Czeslaw, you always write too much =P

Seeing as how this topic (as far as I know) hasn’t been addressed by the admin team, I think it’s safe to say that we’re sticking with the leaves.

BTW, the leaves were originally drawn by Stuart McCoy, but I made the circular icon =)

doh, still gotta add that to the forum templates
disappears for a few minutes

104
kurtis wrote:
Czeslaw, you always write too much. =P

You may be right about that. But then the question becomes: Too much for what? Let’s consider the possibilities at length…

(Sorry, couldn’t resist…) :slight_smile:

105
MYOB wrote:
Any software product which appeals above a geeky market doesn't have a mascot. And don't bring in OpenBSD, as you need to be a geek to even install that.
*sigh* this is all I'll reply to.

Do you mean to install as in difficult to install? If so, OBSD is not easy to install for those who need a GUI to do anything (ie those who can’t read), otherwise it just requires a bit of thinking and that’s it.

And as a side note, I’ve never had to re-install OBSD. I can’t say the same for any other OS out there, can you?

106
MYOB wrote:
Firstly, the biggest selling FPS games around all use OpenGL. Which is *highly* portable (I'm referring to id games and the countless games that use id engines)
From what I hear, this isn't the case anymore. They are moving elsewhere.
107
Jack Burton wrote:
I'm sorry, but as other people already said, you should,roughly in this order: A. Have a look at the code. B. Find a task. C. Write some code. D. Contact the team leader saying you have written some code E. Eventually, post the code somewhere so that we can have a look at it.
So then, who is working on what unoffically. Even in the unassigned column (if there's anything left) there is code written on some of them, which means that someone may be writing it still (though maybe unofficially known or unknown). So, why risk re-inventing the wheel. Why not ask if someone is working on something.

I’ve said this in multiple threads, most of us don’t have the skill that is required to write the internals of an OS. But, OS’s need support apps, etc. These are low on the priority list for the Haiku team, but it’s all some of us can do. And from what I can tell, there is no list for these things.

108
SigmaNunki wrote:
So, why risk re-inventing the wheel. Why not ask if someone is working on something.

I’ve said this in multiple threads, most of us don’t have the skill that is required to write the internals of an OS. But, OS’s need support apps, etc. These are low on the priority list for the Haiku team, but it’s all some of us can do. And from what I can tell, there is no list for these things.


This makes sense. Perhaps you could write to Sikosis, team lead for the Preferences Team, and request an assignment? (I realize that this runs counter to the advice that others have already posted here, but there may be more than one way to skin this cat…) The preference applications are reportedly a great place to start making code contributions to the Haiku project. I bet that Sikosis could set you up with a task that is not already being done by someone else…

109
SigmaNunki wrote:
Even in the unassigned column (if there's anything left) there is code written on some of them, which means that someone may be writing it still (though maybe unofficially known or unknown). So, why risk re-inventing the wheel. Why not ask if someone is working on something.

I’m sure they wouldn’t complain if you fix their bugs, and you could start from there, if you want.

110

Do professional Linux distros like Novell SuSE or Mandrake have a stupid fluffy Tux around? No, they don’t

Mdk uses a tophat and magic wand.

Several canadian sports teams have leaves as mascots. I know how yer hearts are set on a leaf… but.

Having a mascot makes you “geeky” and geeky is somehow amatuerish’? Boy, what some people will resort to, to get their way. wow. We have several mascots. moe, Aremodoki, aremodoki’s cohort. etc.

If you had to ask…

111

<i>How come Mozilla never got accepted among businesses, OEMs, etc as an IE replacement but Firefox is being accepted, whilst in beta</i>

Yes, this can all be attributed to the mascot (not the product). :stuck_out_tongue:

<i>Firefox has a professional image. Mozilla has a stupid interface, in-jokes (look for about:kitchensink in older builds), and a cruddy dumb mascot.</i>

<i>Do professional Linux distros like Novell SuSE or Mandrake have a stupid fluffy Tux around? No, they don’t </i>

What would you call the chameleon on SuSE’s site? Or the tophat on Mandrake? Shaky examples.

112
gtada wrote:
Do professional Linux distros like Novell SuSE or Mandrake have a stupid fluffy Tux around? No, they don't

What would you call the chameleon on SuSE’s site? Or the tophat on Mandrake? Shaky examples.

I certainly wouldn’t call a top hat a mascot, any more than a leaf motif is a macot. It is more of a logo, which helps to build a professional visual identity for the product, IMHO.

Simon

113

I think a mascot is a good idea. But, no mascot is better than a bad mascot.

I don’t think we should aim for the overly professional boring lawyer-style. (Taking lawyers as professional and boring.)

With “normal” user I mean the kind who, besides the geeks, liked BeOS (and probably likes OSX today). A good mascot will help these users to remember Haiku. It sparks interest and helps bring a nice atmosphere. Of course this won’t work without a good, (professional) design, but a good mascot helps and attracts people rather than deter.

A mascot has nothing to do with geekienes other than it can be used in a geeky way. (As can a logo/anything. Apple logo tattoo anyone?)

Finally, the users (geeks) who have come to Haiku because they hate linux, bsd et al including their cozy unproffesional logos are a very small percentage of Haiku’s future potential users. Cute doesn’t necessarily equals bad. People like cute.

(And besides, who said Firefox has nog mascot? Have you seen the logo? Is that not mascot enough?)

114

Isn’t Haiku a Hawaiian term also. A pretty hula girl would make a nice mascot! :smiley:

115

Well, I see my post has generated a lot of replies. I just got out of boot camp, they wouldn’t let me use the computer a whole lot, lol. To all the people who say that a mascot is geeky, there is no question on wether there is going to be a mascot. Just on wether it is official or not. Some people want a mascot, so there is going to be one, period. So how about some more discussion on what a good mascott would be, and less people complaining that it is geeky. If you don’t want it to be official fine. But when I make some games for haiku, I’m going to use the unofficial mascot for them. And if it is geeky so what? Like some people said is it going to affect whether or not they are going to use it? Probably not, but it might help people remember haiku.

116
Lord_Ryan wrote:
To all the people who say that a mascot is geeky, there is no question on wether [sic] there is going to be a mascot. Just on wether [sic] it is official or not. Some people want a mascot, so there is going to be one, period.

What would be the point of an “unofficial” mascot? So that you and your friends could refer to Haiku by some means other than the means used by the rest of us in the community?

And…who are you? Do you use some name other than “Lord Ryan” when you submit your code contributions to CVS? Or perhaps you are not a major contributor to the project? If the latter is true, as I suspect it is, then just what is it – if not major code contributions – that makes you believe that you have any right whatsoever to attempt to “rebrand” the project by associating some “mascot” with it? Are you heading up the Haiku admin team these days? Did I miss some announcement?

By the way, you may wish to tone down the “marching orders” prose style while you are at it. You are not in “boot camp” here…

There are plenty of things that I want but cannot have. (A world without imperialist aggression and atrocious war crimes, for instance.) I don’t expect that all my desires will be satisfied, however, and neither should you if you wish to appear to others to be an adult…

117

Unofficial mascots can be bad for our business, but i suppose good for others’:
http://www.splitreason.com/productdetail.php?id=99

There’s plenty of other examples with skewed logos and mascots completely defaced out there that people are making money off of… but they really aren’t helping out the original cause.

I can guarantee at this point, with the current admin team, there will never be a mascot other than variations of the leaves, it just leaves too much open and brings up too many other problems for us to deal with… remember that we’re all doing this in our spare time.

118

Are mascots cute? Yes. Are mascots fun? Yes. Do mascots improve brand recognition? Arguably so.

Do people run Linux because of the penguin or FreeBSD because of the little devil? I’m betting not. I’m betting they run them because they are cheap as free, and have lots of apps with that same price tag. I’m betting they run them because they make good servers and run on lots of different hardware. I’m betting they run them because they gave up Microsoft for lent (or for-ever).

I’m sure a mascot might help people “remember haiku.” And a good mascot would probably improve the project’s branding. But my opinion is that the goal of the devs is to provide, through Haiku, the best experience users have ever had with a computer. That was one of Be’s goals, and I think it’s a worthy goal. The best experience. That’s what they’ll remember. And no amount of fuzziness is going to make them remember that experience more or less vividly.

That’s not to say I am against a mascot. I’d love one. But, deciding on a mascot (or the lack of one) shouldn’t be an issue that divides the community, should it?

Kurtis makes a good point. Mascots are very visible (that’s the idea, anyway), and people are going to make knock-offs and look-alikes for their own profit. And if we don’t want knock-offs and look-alikes, we have two options:

  1. No mascot.
  2. Litigate people who rip off the mascot.

The word litigate makes me shudder.

Lord Ryan, I understand where you are coming from wanting to brand your games with the official or unofficial mascot of Haiku. But if you want a mascot so badly, why not just come up with one for your games? I mean, if people are seeing the Haiku mascot (official or otherwise) in your game, then they must already be running Haiku and we are “preaching to the choir,” so to speak.

I guess my point is that when R1 is done, there will be exactly one thing that Haiku needs the most. Users. Lots and lots of users. Tons of users. Users drive development. If we want apps for Haiku, then we need users. And I would personally prefer that the people with the greatest stake in Haiku (active devs and community members) be focused on a truly fantastic user-experience, rather than refereeing disputes over a mascot. Focus on something that will make you go, “Hey man, ditch that Winblows and get Haiku. The air tastes better over here.”

Honestly, which would you recommend to your friends? An OS with a cute mascot, or an OS that makes you coffee and irons your pants and lets you get things done?

If we can have both amicably, that’s great. But if I have to choose just one…

I’m going for the great OS and the best experience.

(hmm… and a hula girl couldn’t hurt :wink: )

119

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned as there is too many posts now to read in one sitting.

I wanted to suggest a Japanese Akita for a mascot, seeing we’re kind of on a Japanese theme with the name.

Once the dog of the shogun, they’re known for their intelligence, dignity, courage, alertness, endurance and extraordinary strength.

But quite likely they’re best known for their devotion:

Quote:
Hachiko, one of the most revered Japanese Akitas of all time. He was born in 1923 and was owned by Professor Eizaburo Ueno of Tokyo. Professor Ueno lived near the Shibuya Train Station in a suburb of the city and commuted to work every day on the train. Hachiko accompanied his master to and from the station each day.

On May 25, 1925, when the dog was 18 months old, he waited for his master’s arrival on the four o’clock train. But he waited in vain; Professor Ueno had suffered a fatal stroke at work. So Hachiko waited, and waited, the Akita must have known something was wrong, but nonetheless he returned to the station every day at 3 o’clock to meet the train. The months turned to years, and still Hachiko returned to Shibuya station daily at 3pm, even as arthritis and aging took their toll. Finally, on March 7, 1934 - nearly ten years after last seeing Professor Ueno - the 12-year-old Akita was found dead on the same spot outside the station where he had spent so many hours waiting for his master.

His vigil became world renowned, and shortly after his death, a bronze statue was erected at the train station in his honor.

Maybe name the mascot Hachiko too, that would be so sweet.

They’re a beautiful dog, here’s a pic of my beloved Yogi, who sadly isn’t with me anymore. (I miss him so much)

I think he’d look pretty awesome in cartoon form and the qualities of the breed fit in well with the qualities of a fantastic operating system, plus being Japanese is a huge bonus.

Hope you all liked my suggestion.
Kari.

120
aljen wrote:
hm maybe a dragon ? :) its a strong, fast and have a magic power hehe :) to defeat other os :D
IIRC KDE has a dragon named Konki. :(