Logo/name considerations

Wed Dec 27 00:23:16 UTC 2000

On Sun, Dec 24, 2000 at 11:39:16AM +0100, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
>  || On Sun, 24 Dec 2000 10:57:57 +0100
>  || Peter Gerwinski <peter at gerwinski.de> wrote: 
> 
>  >> On Sat, Dec 23, 2000 at 09:52:25AM +0100, josX wrote:
> 
>  >> > We are talking about 'Free Software Foundation Europe', since
>  >> > everything is held under the microscope: why use English? [...]
>  >> [...]  Having said that, 'Free Software Foundation Europe' in
>  >> english doesn't associate the FSFE with any country in Europe,
>  >> [...]
> 
>  pg> I agree.
> 
> Same here. As people already pointed out: English is the language
> usually used for communication of people from different countries (at
> least when it comes to computers & science). 
> 
> It is simply a convenient language as it is relatively easy to grasp
> the basics and very forgiving as far as mistakes go.
> 
> And what can be said against one language can usually be said against
> another. In the end it boils down to: if we want to use the most
> widely used language, we should all be speaking Chinese. But I guess
> that'd be rather difficult. .-)

Too say the least ;)

> 
>  pg> Another thought: Even if we rename the "Free Software Foundation
>  pg> Europe" now, people all over the world will continue referring to
>  pg> it as the "Free Software Foundation Europe", so all we can get by
>  pg> renaming is confusion.
> 
> That adds on top of it, too.
> 
>  pg> Having said that: Why not think about different _expansions_ of
>  pg> "FSFE" in other languages? For example, I can translate "FSFE" to
>  pg> "Freie-Software-Förderung Europa" in German which is not exactly
>  pg> the same as "Free Software Foundation Europe", but preserves the
>  pg> spirit.
> 
> I don't know. This sounds like it might create confusion, too. People
> still have problems with the expansion of LGPL... and that has only
> two possible choices. 

Yes, and has Peter himself observed it's rather impossible because
Free an in Freedom starts with an L(i) (Livre - portuguese, Libre-
french, spanish, possibly italian (not sure)); I thought of possible
adaptations but it is really impossible, Foundation is easy since it's
latin, Software likewise since it's a technical word that was
incorporated and is used, but for freedom, the most important of all,
there aren't any with an F.

> 
>  pg> I would be really glad if we found a suitable latin name which
>  pg> also can be abbreviated "FSFE". In that case I would vote for
>  pg> that as a valid official name. :-)))
> 
> Yeah, right. There are tons of people on the street who understand
> latin. .-)
> 
> 
> By the way: I DID suggest a latin motto several days ago. The
> combination of English name & latin motto is probably the best we can
> do. At least that's what I'd vouch for. 
> 
> On top of this we could have local mottos in the native language of
> the country.

IMHO this sounda as the perfect solution, since it combines a single
name with an European twist and the possibility of localization.

> 
> 
> Oh yeah: Merry Christmas, everyone!

Same here, and a Happy New Year!

cheers,

fsm

-- 
Frederico S. Muñoz		GNU	http://www.gnu.org
fsmunoz at sdf.lonestar.org	Debian	http://www.debian.org

http://sdf.lonestar.org - SDF Public Access Unix Systems
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