For the record, I'm not interested in changing PV's mind, I'm happy to accept the mod's decisions and I'm interested - but not desperate - to see the results of this poll, as were >100 users.

Andrew

So far it's still significantly weighted towards general dislike for the new logo. I'm not for changing anyone's mind either, but I think the current logo is overall detrimental to the distro. When people see that logo and can barely read it, what are they gonna say ? Oh, how cute, a logo designed for both humans and vampires, it can be read both upside-down and rightside-up, wow ! *closes Firefox tab*

Now we're stuck with an ever-so-trendy logo, how about dumping the boring release numbers? 12.1? Yaaaawn. We need something like alliterative animal appellations or Pixar produced personalities. And where (apologies to El Reg) is the Paris Hilton angle?

Personally I think it's a good thing that this disagreement over the logo exists. It says a lot for the distro that the only major sign of dissent is over the logo, not the packages, packaging, software, method of install, etc etc. Slackware must be a rock solid OS of awesomeness if we're only quibbling over the logo!

Yes, the new logo has introduced a flaw into an otherwise perfect distro. It just does not fit. It's more suited to an eye-candy oriented distro.

Horny Hornet?

Hungry Heifer?

Ugly
 

i didn't like the new logo.

It amazes me to see how people write their first post just to inform the world that they do not like a logo... as if Slackware - the distro you use - is not more important to comment on than a mere logo...

Eric

Like it or not, the logo is part of the entire experience. Not only that, it's the "face" of the product to the rest of the world. When people say, "what distro do you use" (or even, "what OS?") and you can say Slackware and know it's got the coolest logo out there, one that matches the ethos of the distro perfectly, that's part of the pride of using one of the best operating systems on the planet. When you say "Slackware" and it's associated with a kind of goofy logo (no insult intended, just trying to be descriptive from a personal perspective), you feel a little bit diminished. People who aren't familiar with slackware will naturally associate it with the logo.

As a graphic design minor in graduate school who studied the development of logos for company identity -- and the major impact of iconic and instantly recognizable logos like the IBM logo, Coca-cola, the old AT&T "deathstar" logo, the Fedex logo ("can you find the arrow in the fedex logo?"), etc. -- I understand how important branding is to the identity of the product. Slackware isn't a corporate product in the same sense as products from some of those companies, but the basic principles of good (and bad) design still apply all the same. The new logo is just quite frankly bad design -- and I ought to know, because I've made my share of bad designs, too. ;) It's nothing to be ashamed of, it's usually just the result of some bad choices.

It's not my distro, and obviously PV can do whatever he wants. If he wants to keep it, that's his choice -- an unfortunate one, I think, though at least not one that affects the functioning of the software. And in the end, it all comes down to personal taste anyway. But with the community so heavily weighted toward disapproval, you'd think that might factor into some decision making just a little.

I agree with slackhack, logos are very important to corporations, that's why most of them are trademarked. It's true that Slackware is not a corporate product, but if it were, what would this logo say about the distro ? Are there corporate logos out there that are similar ? (weird, hardly readable)

I suppose it may not mean that much, it's just a logo. I know it won't affect people who are already using Slackware and know how awesome it is, but what about people who have never tried it ? Will this logo affect their decisions ? I don't really know. Either way all I can think of is that it will not help in getting people to try it, it may even make people not want to try it, I'm not sure, but I don't think the outcome will be positive. I suppose there really is no point to this poll, maybe just to give us some idea on what the outcome will be, positive or negative, other than that no other purpose. But, I suppose it is biased, it's in the Slackware forum after all, mostly slackers will take the poll, that's not a representative population, or is it ? I dunno.

So how do you explain craigslist.org then? It's the ugliest site on the internet but yet it's efficient, easy to navigate and probably one of the most popular sites in use today. Sorry to take this slightly off topic but I don't believe the hype around a logo, sure it's great for first impressions and attraction but once someone starts to use something and like it, then the logo should no longer matter to them.

craigslist is actually very good functional design, in my opinion. Nothing extraneous, gets right to the point -- as you said yourself, it's very easy to navigate and use. Why is it easy to navigate and use? Because it's very simple, clear, and direct, like the original slackware logo.

The first rule of designing text logos -- and TexMex hit on this as well -- is that it should be something that's immediately legible, or easy to read. No matter what kind of "embellishments" or fancy stuff you put in a design, you should at a minimum be able to identify what it says right away. Like in the examples I gave, no one has any problem knowing what IBM says, or coca cola, or Bloomberg news for that matter. You look at it and you know instantly what it says and what's it's conveying about the product.

Rules are made to be broken, of course, and sometimes there is a good REASON to break them and make something obscure or difficult to read. But I don't see that reason here. If anything, the hard to read logo *takes away* from the reality of slackware being a "bare bones basic" distro (for lack of better words) -- not trying to say it's primitive or lacks features, but that it has a certain no-nonsense quality about it. The logo detracts from the reality of the "product," and that's why I say it's bad. Not just because the readability is poor (which could be a good thing in the right circumstances), but because it doesn't really match what slackware actually IS (in my opinion).

And apart from al these excellent motivations, it's just plain ugly (IMNSHO). I'm glad I bought a baseball cap just a little while ago, wouldn't dream of buying a cap with this logo. ;)
And why we keep on nagging about it?
Because we care?

Yeah, this poll is flawed, the results are not meaningful, some voted more than one time with new accounts. It should be re-done with a limited access to linuxquestions.org users with a >100 posts number
:)