Save the FreeBSD Mascot and Create a Logo

I learned of the furor over the upcoming FreeBSD logo contest by reading the recent Slashdot thread bearing the unfortunate title "FreeBSD Announces Contest To Replace Daemon Logo." There is no replacement going on. As I've written previously, FreeBSD has no logo. FreeBSD has a mascot, "Beastie" the daemon. Core team member Robert Watson has affirmed this, and I believe the forthcoming announcement at FreeBSD logo contest willl make this point crystal clear. The new contest is designing a logo to complement the Beastie mascot, not replace or remove him.

A few people (here, here, and here) demonstrate an understanding of the difference between a logo and a mascot and have been brave enough to speak up.

Unfortunately, the FUD is already flying. Kon Wilms started the Help Save the FreeBSD Mascot online petition and has enjoyed a healthy number of sign-ups. I've started a Save the FreeBSD Mascot and Create a Logo petition to counter Mr. Wilms' effort. I'm not sure if it will be able to offset his call to "send a message to the FreeBSD Project administrators that they keep our mascot," even when we know the mascot will not change. According to the PetitionOnline FAQ, I might not see my petition posted until tomorrow or later.

My petition text says the following:

"The FreeBSD Project will soon officially release details of a contest to design the group's first-ever logo:

http://logo-contest.freebsd.org/

FreeBSD does not currently have a logo; it only has a mascot, the popular "daemon" named Beastie.

The logo will complement -- not replace or remove -- the existing "Beastie" FreeBSD mascot. Further, having a logo independent of the mascot will allow wider, unencumbered promotion of FreeBSD. The Beastie creator, Marshall Kirk McKusick, asserts copyright over the BSD Daemon:

http://www.mckusick.com/beastie/mainpage/copyright.html

This petition calls on FreeBSD users to express their support for the creation of an official FreeBSD logo. We make this call to counter the "Help Save the FreeBSD Mascot" petition, which has confused users by implying that they need to "send a message to the FreeBSD Project administrators that they keep our mascot." People signing that petition are being mislead. They rightly fear the removal of Beastie the mascot -- which won't happen -- but are sending the wrong message.

Beastie fans have nothing to fear! By signing this petition, you show the FreeBSD Project your support for the FreeBSD logo contest and recognize Beastie is not going to disappear."

When the petition is active, I'll update this site with a link to it.

Comments

Richard Bejtlich said…
Hi Kon,

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, as are the people who are signing your petition. Unfortunately, a good number of those signers believe that the FreeBSD project intends to remove Beastie as the mascot, thanks to your request to "send a message to the FreeBSD Project administrators that they keep our mascot."

You spread more FUD by saying blaming the "whims of a few selfish people with vested religious interests." Where is your proof?

People who want to associate Beastie with FreeBSD will still be able to do so. There is no replacement occurring. There is an addition taking place -- the creation of a logo to complement the Beastie mascot. People will have a choice to promote FreeBSD with any combination of the following:

1. FreeBSD's new logo
2. FreeBSD's old mascot
3. FreeBSD's new logo and old mascot

How is this bad, or why does it require you to "Help Save the FreeBSD Mascot?"

"2000+ people" can be easily misinformed if they do not pay attention to what is happening.
6:09 AM
Richard Bejtlich said…
Kon,

The draft announcement you reproduce does not reflect the FreeBSD Core team's position. It was a draft written by a non-native English speaker, e.g. "And this daemon character seems cute from somebody's point of view, but somebody may think which does not suit for the professional products to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside." This is clearly a raw document, written by one person, that was not meant to be publicized as representing the Core team's position. You are tilting at windmills.

The only official word on the subject is on the current site: "This is the future site for the FreeBSD logo competition which is meant to create a new logo for the FreeBSD Project to supplement the current Beastie mascot." (emphasis added) In plain English: Beastie does not need to be "saved" since he's not going anywhere.

After reading most of the postings to freebsd-advocacy and elsewhere, it is clear that your position, that of your petition signers, and that of other "save Beastie!" advocates is this: the only symbol you want to associate with FreeBSD is Beastie. You don't care about any of the arguments regarding copyright, difficulty of reproduction, political or religious sensitivities, sharing of the mascot with other projects, professionalism, etc. You don't care about the difference between a logo and a mascot, and you don't care that the Core team has said no one is trying to remove Beastie's association with FreeBSD. You don't want to support giving FreeBSD users an alternative graphical means to represent the project, period.

There is no place to take this discussion. I will delete all future replies. Please take your arguments to freebsd-advocacy.
7:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zeek in Action Videos

Image
This is a quick note to point blog readers to my Zeek in Action YouTube video series for the Zeek network security monitoring project .  Each video addresses a topic that I think might be of interest to people trying to understand their network using Zeek and adjacent tools and approaches, like Suricata, Wireshark, and so on.  I am especially pleased with Video 6 on monitoring wireless networks . It took me several weeks to research material for this video. I had to buy new hardware and experiment with a Linux distro that I had not used before -- Parrot .  Please like and subscribe, and let me know if there is a topic you think might make a good video.
Read more

MITRE ATT&CK Tactics Are Not Tactics

Image
Just what are "tactics"? Introduction MITRE ATT&CK  is a great resource, but something about it has bothered me since I first heard about it several years ago. It's a minor point, but I wanted to document it in case it confuses anyone else. The MITRE ATT&CK Design and Philosophy document from March 2020 says the following: At a high-level, ATT&CK is a behavioral model that consists of the following core components: • Tactics, denoting short-term, tactical adversary goals during an attack; • Techniques, describing the means by which adversaries achieve tactical goals; • Sub-techniques, describing more specific means by which adversaries achieve tactical goals at a lower level than techniques; and • Documented adversary usage of techniques, their procedures, and other metadata. My concern is with MITRE's definition of "tactics" as "short-term, tactical adversary goals during an attack," which is oddly recursive. The key word in the tacti
Read more

New Book! The Best of TaoSecurity Blog, Volume 4

Image
  I've completed the TaoSecurity Blog book series . The new book is  The Best of TaoSecurity Blog, Volume 4: Beyond the Blog with Articles, Testimony, and Scholarship .  It's available now for Kindle , and I'm working on the print edition.  I'm running a 50% off promo on Volumes 1-3 on Kindle through midnight 20 April. Take advantage before the prices go back up. I described the new title thus: Go beyond TaoSecurity Blog with this new volume from author Richard Bejtlich. In the first three volumes of the series, Mr. Bejtlich selected and republished the very best entries from 18 years of writing and over 18 million blog views, along with commentaries and additional material.  In this title, Mr. Bejtlich collects material that has not been published elsewhere, including articles that are no longer available or are stored in assorted digital or physical archives. Volume 4 offers early white papers that Mr. Bejtlich wrote as a network defender, either for technical or pol
Read more