I have never heard of this before, so congratulations on getting big enough for the paid competitors to take out ads.
"Kdenlive" sure is an open-source project name though. How is it even supposed to be pronounced? It's not actively offensive like "The GIMP" but it sure does not imply a single thing about what this program does to the uninitiated.
Is it worse than "Konqueror" or "Krusader"? Regardless, I don't see what's so bad about "Dolphin," it seems just as good as Nautilus, Nemo, Thunar, Finder, Midnight Commander, Caja, Ranger,...
The opposite exercise, treating proprietary software naming in such an un-generous way, is pretty easy too:
- Fireworks: you'll make bitmaps so good they'll blow up in colors?
- Dreamweaver: you can weave... dreams? I get the 90s web enthusiasm but come on
- Illustrator: there's bitmap illustration and vector illustration; Illustrator focuses on the latter, so good job on picking the wrong word in "vector illustration"
- InDesign: this name is a marketing dept playing it safe to a point that only a beige puddle of non-meaning remains
- GoLive: crappy subscription 1995 online service
- ColdFusion: lol
I'd love to see people taking such critical takes into the bigger guys for once. Especially because they have marketing departments. F/LOSS project naming reflects their often-personal origins and ways of expressing identity. Some do sound clunky, but give me the clumsy Inkscape any day (the "ksk" is hard to get used to, but you forget quickly) than any of the sad corporate names above.
I'm being snarkier that warranted, but man i'm crestfallen with all the unbridled hate on free software project naming around here.
All of the examples you gave are either real words or composites of real words, making them 10-100x more memorable and brandable than “Kdenlive.”
I agree that expectations should be different for FOSS, but the bar is literally at “pick one or two short + commonly used words and mush them together”…
You're right, but I don't think memorability and brandability are universal priorities that F/LOSS projects must also be measured from. Sure they can go for that (and many do), but it's unfair to hold them to that very specific standard.
I'm reminded of Debian Linux and its origins (the combination of names of the OS author and his partner). Ended up being pretty memorable, and brand-wise it works. And yet the motivations behind Debian's naming were unusually human for a software world full of empty buzznames.
Just to be clear, from me at least, this isn’t intended as unbridled hate. The names are bad. So what? Anyone who’s named a software project knows it is an annoying task. And it isn’t very important. I think open source names are often somewhat sarcastic or lampshade-y, and I like it that way.
I'll take it, not much to praise. It reads well (kayden live) unlike other names I have to grudgingly pronounce (postgresql, qjackctl, systemctl come to mind).
But cheers, now I see I was reactive towards a generalised view of your point; I now understand where you're coming from, I'm with you there.
Fwiw, I say K-dian-live, but, as with many software-y things, I have 0 friends with the same interests so it's always a guess. I do know on some Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts you can vote (with boosts/sats) on how to pronounce things (like Gif/Jif, Gnome/Gu-nome, Deb-ian/Dee-bian). So, I guess it's a regular thing... But you know, English... https://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/pronunciationpoem....
Somehow in my head some things come out as Dutch, so GGGnome (hard throaty G, like a Klingon would say it).
Who would the gimp offend? It’s not claiming gimps are good or bad, it’s just called the gimp. You could reasonably say it was unnecessary sexual but it’s not trying to hurt anyone.
I'm not an artist, but I'm curious as to how digital artists are making money online. Is it comission based? Is it more like only fans, but for art? What platforms are popular?
Back in the day I knew a few people doing a particular type of art, often with mild adult content on deviantart, or in some cases not so mild, and they were able to fulfill commissions that came direct from enquiries. Those days were quite a while ago, however. That particular topic has continued to grow, despite all its stigmas though I'd imagine with growth came more artists and that likely drove prices down for most.
I'd never heard of it being used as a slur, growing up in 70s/80s/90s. It just wasn't a word used in my circle/area. Was introduced to it in... late 90s or maybe 2000 at a local Linux group. No one mentioned anything about the name then, and I don't think I actually heard it referenced as a slur until around 10 years ago. Not saying it wasn't used or known as one, but it's certainly not a universal thing.
Perhaps if we ignored some of these reactions to words after... 80+ years, and just let the 'new' meaning become the default... we can move past censoring words that someone, somewhere, used as an insult?
As a general principle, I do think that the level of offense taken should generally be proportional to the context in which a word is used. This particular circumstance is really at worst unfortunate.
That said...
> Perhaps if we ignored some of these reactions to words after... 80+ years, and just let the 'new' meaning become the default... we can move past censoring words that someone, somewhere, used as an insult?
The world we live in today lets black rappers use the n-word in their music while also seeing white teachers get fired for using it in the context of a classroom discussion about why it is a bad word and ought not be used.
The mental gymnastics of accepting a word which could be either a term of endearment or the most deeply offensive pejorative are too messy for my liking.
> It just wasn't a word used in my circle/area
This highlights the problem, I think. You've moved from a circle where it wasn't even in use, to a circle where it is in use with one meaning (an acronym), and now another circle where it has been used for 100 years with an entirely different meaning (a slur).
You have a decision to make. Acknowledge that other people see the word differently than you do, or try to convince everyone that only your view of the word is the right one. Personally, I think it would be easier for the gimp to be renamed, but I'm also making an assumption (based on the circles I've run in) that more people are familiar with gimp as a slur than they are with it as an acronym for a software program.
So the fact you personnally were never inconvenienced by a word means it must become ok for others. And whenever we hear a slur, we have to somehow give it a pass because the word wasn't a slur before?
I'd recommend you read up on the aids health supplement, and how that attitude didn't help them. Simple fact is that GIMP has an unfortunate name, it's not getting any better despite your wishes to single-handedly control the most important language on the planet. Its name makes the whole product less appealing, making it a harder sell to switch from Photoshop. A better name would be in order.
The use of the word is enormously exaggerated by crybullies desperate to exert some power over a project. Words have contexts, and this context is not a slur. This is on par with the mental defectives claiming "blacklist" is a reference to slavery.
The noun gimp is sometimes used to describe a limp or another physical disability, although it's an outdated and offensive word to use.
If you comment on someone's gimp, call the person a gimp, or say, "Look at that guy trying to gimp across the parking lot without his crutches," you've chosen a very objectionable way to talk about a disability. People will know what you mean if you use the word, but they're likely to be offended by it. Gimp was first used in the 1920's, possibly as a combination of limp and gammy, an old slang word for "bad."
----
New Oxford Dictionary of American English
gimp(2) | ɡimp | North American informal, derogatory
noun
1 a person with a physical disability or leg injury.
• a limp.
2 a stupid or contemptible person.
This is just senseless hating IMO. What is wrong with KMail? KolourPaint? Konsole? Ktorrent? KSudoku? These are all straight forward and descriptive. Nobody bats an eye at "Gmail" but KMail makes people lose their shit apparently. Come on.
And of those that aren't plain and descriptive, most of them seem inoffensive. What makes Kate such a worse name for a text editor than "Vim", or "JOE"? What's so awful about a PDF reader called "Okular", when the competition is named named after southwestern construction materials and trapeze artists e.g Adobe Acrobat? At least 'Okular' suggests the program is for viewing something. Corporate brand can be as bizarre as the strangest KDE names, the only difference is what you're acclimatized to.
It's just a personal preference. I can't tell you why, but I just don't like how all of the programs start with K. I think it looks weird.
It also annoys me every time I try to search for the calculator by typing in "Calc", but nothing is found because I forgot I need to look for "KCalc"
I think at the very least, commonly used applications like "Calculator", "Console", "Mail" should just be called "Calculator", "Console", and "Mail". Not everything has to be branded. The mail application on Windows is called "Mail", the terminal is called "Terminal", etc. They don't call them "WinMail" or "WinTerminal" for a reason. They know most users would find that off putting
Better than gnome where every program has two names; one used in the documentation and . desktop file, and another used at the command-line and by the package manager
Just an FYI, outside of North America, the only shop specifically for work is a workshop. We would go to a auto workshop or a wood workshop. For Aussies or Brits a shop is equivalent to a store (often a small one). And yes go shopping at a shop or a store, you don't usual go storing at a store, unless it's like a grain store or a data store.
"Kdenlive" sure is an open-source project name though. How is it even supposed to be pronounced? It's not actively offensive like "The GIMP" but it sure does not imply a single thing about what this program does to the uninitiated.