GNU has a weird naming choice

in #programming4 years ago

1024px-The_GIMP_icon_-_gnome.svg.png
source

GIMP - Graphical Image Manipulation Program

I found it interesting after searching GNU's list of programs, I could find no other program that actually had the word 'program' in it other than GIMP. It could have been callled anything. But they choose a name that literally means 'lame'.. and is considered derogatory.

  1. Often Offensive A person who limps.
    intr.v. gimped, gimp·ing, gimps
    source

wikipedia claims the name came about like this:

The acronym was coined first, with the letter G being added to "IMP" as a reference to "the gimp" in a scene in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction.[6] In 1996 GIMP (0.54) was released as the first publicly available release.

it sites these two sources How it all Started... and A Brief (and Ancient) History of GIMP .. neither of which make a single mention of 'pulp fiction' .. but does show that one of the first comments about the creation of such a program

Suppose someone decided to write a graphical image manipulation program (akin to photoshop)
...
Peter Mattis

so it appears to have come about organically.. but once it took hold.. nobody noticed that such a naming convention could lead to less adoption?

and why has wikipedia so incredibly wrong about their name for it? I don't know.

But I can tell you I think it should be renamed.

define:graphical:

b. Of or relating to pictorial representation.source

why the redundency? computer scientists are usually known for their precision, but I can see no reason to add image.. what other kind of graphical thing would I do on a computer?

whatever, none of these can be answered to my satisfaction.. hence this post.

a side note..

it seems all distros take perfectly good programs and set them up with horrible defaults.

One example that seems aimed at the poor new user is that a simple editor, called 'nano', uses hard wrap instead of softwrap. Why is this a problem? If you open up any document that has a line over 80 characters long.. it splits that onto a new line.. if you save the file immediately after opening it.. it actually alters that file and can literally break config files just by having been opened and saved with it. This is because of the insane default of hardwrap instead of using softwrap. Seems to be a sort of punishment or anti-linux feature to keep people away.

almost like those with money sent in traitors to purposely mislead us.

or it is purely diseased superiority complexed programmers

or a combination of the two.

seems to me the third is most likely. ignorance spawn of superiority minded mixed with intentional misleading by paid operatives.

I think it is time the idea some folks may not have your best interests in mind take this idea into computer programming. Sure it is harder to mislead, but sometimes having something that works is not enough.. it needs to work well and easily.. but also how it is named can lead to success or failure.

Do the folks really want it to succeed? Reading the GNU site gives me hope as they point out that Microsoft's Software is Malware

I think most do want it to succeed.. but most don't have the energy/time to fight off paid operatives.. and most don't want to fight.. seeking path of least resistance they allow those that 'act passionately' for whatever reason to have there way.

I'm starting to think this a really bad idea.

people need to speak up for what they know is right, and not let those that shout the loudest have their way..

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