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> we believe that a joke name some find offensive and distracting presents an unnecessary obstacle to wider adoption That could be a valid theory if GIMP wasn'
by asjw 7y ago
> we believe that a joke name some find offensive and distracting presents an unnecessary obstacle to wider adoption
That could be a valid theory if GIMP wasn't the most popular open source raster editor, while none of the forks come even close
Besides, there are at least a few billion people in the world, including me, that haven't watched pulp fiction in English and GIMP for us just means GNU Image Manipulation Program
- lynndotpy 7y agoAnecdotally, I've had three experiences so far where the name "GIMP" got its usage rejected. Two of these were in two different K-12 institutions.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- anthk 7y agoAnd your case for a _global_ (Hello Americans, you are not isolated, your software is used worldwide) experience is totally irrelevant. We used GIMP in Spain for a lot of time and no one knew the original meaning of "Gimp". Ever. Neither for the BDSM context, nor for the "cripple" one. Just an image editor.
- lynndotpy 7y agoI believe you're arguing against a strawman, as I never made an argument for a "global experience". My experiences indeed occurred in America, where the name GIMP was an obstacle to its adoption. It's a linguistic issue, so it shouldn't surprise anyone if it differs with language.
- emayljames 7y agoIs not a strawman if GIMP changed it's name, this would effect world users. There is a very odd prudishness in the US. Is somewhat the same in the UK, but the US turns that knob full crank.
- true_religion 7y agoI think I’d you were to compare countries of the world, you would find Western Europe to be unusual in its lack of prudishness. In Europe you are free to do things and not be judged outside your microcosm communities standard. In the US, everyone eventually gets judged by mainstream standards. I would guess that Europe’s history of sectarian violence and war, has lead to this pervasive non judge mental attitude with regards subcultures.
- emayljames 7y agoGreat point. I'd also add that in the US, individuals that consider themselves to be religous is much higher, by a high margin. As the commenter just above me points out, there are many english names of things that are "rude" words in other countries. Edit: Latin America doesn't have that prudishness.
- anthk 7y ago>Edit: Latin America doesn't have that prudishness. As an Spaniard, I am sure they are a lot more prude than us, by experience.
- chinesempire 7y agoDo you think that cockroachdb, squid, seamonkey, wine, f-spot (talk about jokes...) are better names? do you know that mist means manure and angel means fishing rod in German, in Swedish kiss means pee, slut means end, final, fart means speed and in Polish fart is good luck. And I'll let you lookup what smocking, flipper or scotch mean in Italian. I mean, have you ever considered that many things you say over there could have a complete different meaning here but that didn't stop you anyway? Why should we stop using GIMP then?
- asjw 7y agoI work for a non anglofone fortune 500 and I didn't have to explain GIMP to anybody When they ask me (rarely) what software is that I simply answer "Photoshop for Linux, but gratis"
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoI run it on windows!
- sudosysgen 7y agoGIMP was installed on every single computer in my entire k12 education in francophone Canada.
- sudosysgen 7y agoIndeed. It attempts to be a more sensitive name, which I appreciate, but it ends up being a pure negative for the vast majority of the planet save for ~500 million people, as it will lead to appellation and branding fragmentation that will make using and learning the software more difficult, all in order to appease anglophone sensitivities. Anglocentrism in tech as it applies to user facing elements is a very big problem in my opinion. The name is fine.