Logo History : Tux Penguin

The Logo Quiz is dedicated to all the Logo and Quizzing freaks across the world. Guys this is our place!!! Make your dreams come alive cherish the moment and explore more Logo Quizzes. Also we have a few posts related to the Creation of the Logo and the Evolution of the Logo apart from the regular Logo Quiz. If you want The Logo Quiz to feature your logo , then please send your Company's Logo details to logoquizzer@gmail.com

The Story Behind Tux the Penguin

One of the first questions asked by mainstream technology companies beginning to offer Linux products or services is, "Who owns the penguin?"
The answer is no one. The Linux logo, a plump penguin known as Tux, is an open-source image. Anyone can employ Tux to promote a Linux-related product, and there are no licensing fees or any need to get official approval from someone to use the penguin. "I was amazed to find out that anyone with a Linux-related product or project has the right to use the penguin "said a public relations representative who requested his name not be used. "Normally, teams of always-angry lawyers fiercely protect logos. And when I discovered you could alter the penguin however you choose, I was flabbergasted. Logos are sacred, untouchable icons in corporate culture."

But allowing people to add, alter and tinker with Tux has turned the portly penguin into a widely recognized logo, minus the usually high development costs that are invested into corporate design.

"Tux is an excellent proof of concept of the whole rationale behind open source and free software development," said Marco Pastore, an open source programmer. "Release your creation to the community, let them do with it as they see fit, and you'll end up with something wonderful."

Tux is not the product of an advertising agency, and no money was invested into his development. Artist Larry Ewing first drew him in 1996 when developers began to feel that one of the things that Linux really needed was a logo.

Ewing designed Tux using GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program), an illustration program that comes with many GNU/Linux distributions.On his website, Ewing grants everyone permission to use and modify the Tux image as they see fit, but he requests that he and GIMP be given credit "if someone asks."The penguin concept was picked from the crowd of other logo contenders when it became apparent that Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, had a "fixation for flightless, fat waterfowl," said Jeff Ayers, a Linux programmer.Linus Torvalds has claimed, in various posts to Linux kernel discussion groups over the years, to have been attacked by a "ferocious penguin that bit me and infected me with a little known disease called penguinitis. "Penguinitis makes you stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them."Torvalds later said that while he did indeed have a close and personal encounter with a penguin, the bird wasn't ferocious, and just timidly nibbled on Torvald's finger.The general consensus among the Linux development community is that Torvalds was never attacked, nibbled, or otherwise molested by a penguin, but became fixated on Tux because a fat penguin wasn't a typical corporate logo, a theory that has been backed by later statements from Torvalds.Still, variations of the story that "Linus was assaulted by a huge, rabid man-eating penguin that was running amok and was moving at more than a 100 miles per hour when it attacked him" are still happily told in the Linux community, but few take it seriously."No, I don't really believe Linus was bitten by a penguin. But it's such a great story that it should be true," said Robin Miller, editor of geek news websites Slashdot and NewsForge.Before Tux came into being, many thought a strong, smart and fierce beast would be the best representative for Linux.Sharks, foxes, eagles and hawks were discussed on the Linux-kernel mailing list, a discussion forum for Linux developers.But then Torvalds spoke up and said he thought that a penguin would be the perfect Linux logo.But not just any penguin -– Torvalds specifically wanted to steer away from the "macho penguin" image, and instead urged the developers to focus on creating an image of a cute, cuddly and contented penguin.

Torvalds discussed the finer points of penguins with the list members, suggesting that "contented" means that the penguin "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," Torvalds wrote, noting that, although Linux developers might appreciate having a horny penguin as their mascot, it would be more politically correct to go with the "stuffed to its brim with herring" option instead. So when you think penguin, Torvalds told the developers, "you should be imagining a slightly 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." Torvalds told the developers that they would know they had a successful design if small children, upon seeing the image, were compelled to "jump up and down and scream, 'Mommy, mommy, can I have one, too?" Tux's name, according to Linux community lore, is not based on the idea that penguins, with their black and white coloring, appear to be wearing a tuxedo.When Torvalds was otherwise occupied, developers launched a "let's name that penguin while Linus is not around" contest. Sentiment was running high for "Homer" since several developers thought the chubby Linux logo had a disconcerting similarity to the Simpson's cartoon character, when one James Hughes offered up the suggestion "(T)orvolds (U)ni(X) -- TUX!".But even after the penguin had been officially adopted and named, not everyone was thrilled with Tux. Some developers muttered about the "cutesy" logo -- and they are correct in thinking it's inappropriate, claims Tony Pagano, a former teacher at the School Of Visual Arts who taught corporate logo design.

"A logo is supposed to communicate something about the company or product. What does Tux communicate besides cuteness?" Pagano said. "Tux makes the mental association of 'Toy' when people look at the image in advertising or product packaging. It's misleading. Linux is not cute."But Slashdot's Miller believes that Tux is a "great" logo because it has sex appeal. "Women are strongly drawn to Tux, they love Tux," Miller said. "That's why Linux developers are always smiling."Miller said he was recently in Nashville, Tenn., to talk to the local Linux users group which was meeting at the Auto Diesel College. He'd been given directions that got him to the campus, but had no idea which room the group was meeting in."Then two beautiful girls got out of a pickup truck, and unloaded a four-foot-high stuffed Tux. They headed off and I followed them and Tux to the meeting," Miller said. "You're not going to see Microsoft users carrying around a Window, or Mac people with a big stuffed apple. But you always know when you're in Linux country because you will see Tux."

While Tux's sex appeal is in the eye of the beholder, the penguin's popularity can't be disputed. Tux appears in advertising, on product packaging, T-shirts and toys. The penguin has been morphed into a surfer, a snowboarder, a tropical vacationer, the president of the United States, various mythological gods, a biker and an anime-character-in-penguin-clothing.Tux is also represented by several penguins at England's Bristol Zoo, which have been adopted by a Linux user group as a birthday present for Torvalds.The zoo versions are sleek and slim black-footed penguins, which bear only a family resemblance to the chubby Tux. It gets lonely out there on the floe, apparently.