Beginnings.
In the beginning, sometime in early 1996, several
people were talking on the linux-kernel mailing list
about a suitable logo/mascot for Linux. Of the many,
many suggestions, many involved parodies of other
operating system logo's - or were strong, noble beasts
such as Sharks or Eagles. At some point (I'm not sure
when), Linus Torvalds (the father of Linux) casually
mentioned that he was rather fond of Penguins - which
rather stopped the debate in its tracks.

After several attempts to draw Penguins in various
poses, someone suggested a Penguin holding up the
world. Here is the famous email from Linus - in
response to Dale Scheetz' efforts to produce a such an
image:

Re: Linux Logo prototype.
Linus Torvalds (torvalds@...)
Thu, 9 May 1996 17:48:56 +0300 (EET DST)

Somebody had a logo competition announcement,
maybe people can send their ideas to a web-site..

Anyway, this one looks like the poor penguin is
not really strong enough to hold up the world, and
it's going to get squashed. Not a good, positive logo,
in that respect..

Now, when you think about penguins, first take a
deep calming breath, and then think "cuddly". Take
another breath, and think "cute". Go back to "cuddly"
for a while (and go on breathing), then think
"contented".

With me so far? Good..

Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), "contented"
means it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed
on herring. Take it from me, I'm an expert on
penguins, those are really the only two options.

Now, working on that angle, we don't really want
to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do,
but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be
looking at the "stuffed to its brim with herring"
angle here.

So when you think "penguin", you should be
imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting
down after having gorged itself, and having just
burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the
world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a
few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another
"burp" coming.

(*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that
it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to
stand up. Think "bean bag" here.

Now, if you have problems associating yourself
with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think
"chocolate" or something, but you get the idea.

Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable,
cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having
gorged itself on herring. Still with me?

NOW comes the hard part. With this image firmly
etched on your eyeballs, you then scetch a stylizied
version of it. Not a lot of detail - just a black
brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a
brush where the thickness of the line varies). THAT
requires talent. Give people the outline, and they
should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost
]"Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just
_stuffed_ with herring", and small children will jump
up and down and scream "mommy mommy, can I have one
too?".

Then we can do a larger version with some more
detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world,
but I don't think we really want to give any "macho
penguin" image here about Atlas or anything). That
more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for
all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon.
But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and
the others would just be that cuddly penguin being
used as an actor in some tableau.

Linus

Why Penguins?
This email from Linus in response to this very
question seems to explain the significance of the
Penguin:

Re: Linux Logo
Linus Torvalds (torvalds@...)
Sun, 12 May 1996 09:39:19 +0300 (EET DST)

Umm.. You don't have any gap to fill in.

"Linus likes penguins". That's it. There was
even a headline on it in some Linux Journal some time
ago (I was bitten by a Killer Penguin in Australia -
I'm not kidding). Penguins are fun.

As to why use a penguin as a logo? No good
reason, really. But a logo doesn't really ave to
_mean_ anything - it's the association that counts.
And I can think of many worse things than have linux
being associated with penguins.

Having a penguin as a logo also gives more
freedom to people wanting to use linux-related
material: instead of being firmly fixed with a
specific logo (the triangle, or just "Linux 2.0" or
some other abstract thing), using something like a
penguin gives people the chance to make modifications
that are still recognizable.

So you can have a real live penguin on a CD
cover, for example, and people will get the
association. Or you can have a penguin that does
something specific (a Penguin writing on wordperfect
for the WP Linux CD, whatever - you get the idea).

Compare that to a more abstract logo (like the
windows logo - it's not a bad logo in itself). You
can't really do anything with a logo like that. It
just "is".

Anyway, go to
"http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/" for some nice
examples..

Linus

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