GNU Privacy Guard

[Wim Vandeputte]

On Thu, 19 Feb 1998, BeeP wrote:

> Wow. That didn't take long.

yes, sure, next time read the distribution headers in *private* email 
before you start forwarding individual replies to a *public* mailinglist

> Then a Mr. Wim Vadeputte chimed in with:
> 
> > Please skip the cutesy-poo "gnu" name. Since I see "Gnu" everywhere in the
> >> Linix  world, I am pretty certain "gnu" means something special there. To
> >
> >gnu has been around far earlier then linux. take 15 years.
> 
> Well. That's informative. I still have no more idea than the man in the
> moon what or who gnu is. Aside from an animal at the zoo, I mean. You can't
> buy that kind of name recognition! 

Whatever it is, it's not a Linux thing. You could have figured that out 
by now. Gnu is largely unix biased, but not limited to that platform. 
Ever tried Emacs on NT?

> Whatever gnu is, it's been around longer than Linux. So have I. 

"Gnu is not Unix". It's a classic recursive naming game, if you're not 
familiar with it, stop whining and check http://www.gnu.org/

[snipped the part about GIMP standing for Gnu (graphics?) Image 
Manipulation Program]

> >'bring in the Gimp' (remember Pulp Fiction?) 

> remember that gimp. I guess that's why everytime I think about the product
> Gimp, I think about the poor crippled bastard in the box and anal rape.

Oh dear, you really don't have any sense of humour now do you. Instead of 
complaining about the 'subjective' naming of the program, have you even 
bothered to check how it has 'grown' and where it comes from. Hmmm 
Berkeley... from the same place that gave us Unix and LSD. Well, that 
pretty much sums it up :-)

(if you want to explore all the language variations and subjective 
 cultural influences of the abriviations, don't limit it to your own 
 language, I'm sure I can find offensive TLA's for Dutch or German tongue 
 people. Eh yes, there are other languages beyond American, but I'm sure 
 you're aware of that. My point: what the f*ck are we waisting time on 
 bickering over this useless subject. There will always be things to 
 bring up against any naming. Heck, why not take a random MD5 ckecksum and 
 use that as a name?)

> >It's *supposed* to be a funny name.
> 
> Hey I love sado-masochistic crippled-homosexual-slave jokes as much as the
> next regular guy. It's just that in my marketing work, I try to name things
> so they mean something to the customer. Something related to the product.
> And unless the product is useful for anal rape, I try to make the name
> position the product in the consumer's mind with associations other than
> anal rape.

then you probably got a sick mind. When I hear GIMP, I see *Gnu* *Image* 
*Manipulation* *Program*, it's not my fault other thoughts cross your mind.

Get over it will you?

> >Got better suggestions?
> 
> Yes.... that was the point of my last letter. Great Privacy Guard is about
> 10,000 times better than Gnu Privacy Guard. Unless the product is for
> guarding the privacy of a zoo's gnus.

If the program is backed by the FSF, why not call it GNU by it's first name?
Of course, you don't really care about it being Free, now do you?

> I know Linux/Unix people aren't good at naming software. You've only grep
> to go on. How about if I agree to not tell you how to program and in return
> you give me the benefit of a doubt about marketing?

And what's wrong with the name grep? Unless of course you don't 
understand anything about regular expressions.

*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*-=-*
Wim Vandeputte                                       --Comfort is Treachery--
                                              --So pound the nails in tight--