Linux's Difficulty with Names

Linux's Difficulty with Names 946

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:23PM from the more-important-than-you-think dept.

JohnTyler writes "This article at XYZ Computing takes a look at Linux's strange naming practices. When compared to their Window's equivalents, the names of many Linux programs are difficult to recognize and even tougher to remember. This may seem like splitting hairs, but it is actually an important usability issue. Just think, if you had to do a bit of graphic design which would be easier to pick out of the menu, GIMP or Photoshop? Or if you wanted to play a song, Media Player or xine?" The article is a bit thin, but it raises an excellent point.

Linux's Difficulty with Names

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Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:5, Funny)

by mmell ( 832646 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:25PM (#14346148)

names are based on the assumption that nobody can touch-type.
ls, rm, df, du, etc . . . did any of the engineers at Bell Labs type 10-fingered?

Hehe... (Score:5, Funny)

by setirw ( 854029 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:25PM (#14346149) Homepage

But then again, you click the "Start Button" to shut down in Windows :)

Gimp and xine are rather shabby names (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:28PM (#14346172)

I suggest GIMP be renamed "Baby Guts" and xine be renamed "Smuckers."

Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

by filesiteguy ( 695431 ) writes: <perfectreign@gmail.com> on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:29PM (#14346188)

touch...
mv...
finger..
touch..
mount...
mv...
finger...
unmount...
sleep...

Seriously, I agree. I think that is why I like giving SUSE to my friends/family. Telling my elder family to click on "Image Editor" is much easier than telling them to click on "GIMP."

Slashdots difficulty with names (Score:5, Funny)

by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:33PM (#14346226) Homepage Journal

"This article at XYZ Computing takes a look at Slashdot's strange naming practices. When compared to their Web 2.0's equivalents, the names of many Slashdot URLs are difficult to recognize and even tougher to say. This may seem like splitting hairs, but it is actually an important usability issue. Just think, if you had to do a bit of news which would be easier to tell your friend on the phone, digg.com slash technology or linux dot slash dot dot org slash, no not linux dot slash dot dot org, i said linux fullstop ess ell aye ess haych dee oh tee fullstop oh arr gee?
The article is a bit thin, but it raises an excellent point.

Hurrrrr (Score:2, Funny)

by SydBarrett ( 65592 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:35PM (#14346254)

Hey look at me I name things recursively because I'm fucking retarded.

Yeah right (Score:5, Funny)

by Yahweh Doesn't Exist ( 906833 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:36PM (#14346264)

go ahead, take naming advice from "XYZ Computing", ffs.

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

by Kjella ( 173770 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:37PM (#14346279) Homepage

touch...
mv...
finger..
touch..
mount...
mv...
finger...
unmount...
sleep...

I think you forgot to fsck. Then again, this is slashdot so I probably shouldn't be surprised...

Re:Hehe... (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:47PM (#14346359)

"But then again, you click the "Start Button" to shut down in Windows :)"

Not really, you can just click the IE button like 3 times.

Windows WE (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:47PM (#14346360)

And "longhorn" isn't a strange name for an OS?? I'll bet the next version will be MS Windows WE (Well Endowed)

Re:Names don't matter... (Score:5, Funny)

by networkBoy ( 774728 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @02:47PM (#14346371) Journal

"Oh, and what does Exel and Outlook do? Does Outlook Express do it any faster?"

Load VB exploits, load HTML exploits, and I think the correct answer for the last one is "yes".
-nB

Re:REALLY! It's not THAT obtuse. (Score:5, Funny)

by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:02PM (#14346504) Homepage Journal

But it makes sense if you think about it.

Maybe if you think about it drunk.

Comment removed (Score:2, Funny)

by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:06PM (#14346546)

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

by SpecBear ( 769433 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:13PM (#14346600)

This is one place where an open source makes things more difficult.

I'm encouraging people to make use of open source alternatives instead of pirating software. Sometimes it's simple. Firefox is a pretty easy sell. But I've been telling my girlfriend for years that she should never run suspicious programs, so now it takes some doing to get her to open a program called "GIMP".

Re:What a moron. (Score:2, Funny)

by gowen ( 141411 ) writes: <gwowen@gmail.com> on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:13PM (#14346602) Homepage Journal

A PowerPoint like application

Powerpoint... presumably that's an application that enables me to plug my devices in, right? Like a powerpoint on a wall?

Re:Names don't matter... (Score:3, Funny)

by Pantero Blanco ( 792776 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:22PM (#14346685)

No, no. You're supposed to say: My name is Sue! How do you do!? Now you gonna die! [banned-width.com]

Re:Windows' Difficulty with Names (Score:5, Funny)

by jrockway ( 229604 ) * writes: <jon-nospam@jrock.us> on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:33PM (#14346784) Homepage Journal

> Is Outlook any more of an intuitive name for mail than Evolution to new users?

Maybe... but KDE should definitely rename KMail to Kreation. Then we can have an Evolution vs. Kreation debate to go alongside GNOME vs. KDE.

C'mon KMail devs... you know you want to!

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:2, Funny)

by barfomar ( 557172 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:40PM (#14346841)

This is more syntactically correct....
unzip;strip;touch;finger;mount;fsck;more;yes;unmou nt;sleep

Re:Hehe... (Score:5, Funny)

by Anopheles ( 43442 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:43PM (#14346871) Homepage Journal

You can do what I do...

Push the power button about half a dozen times. Then if the system is still up, yank the big black cord out of the back.

Works in EVERY operating system. Don't even need a password.

Laptops are a bit more difficult...

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

by Ashish Kulkarni ( 454988 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @03:57PM (#14347004) Homepage

On that path, ponder this sequence:

unzip..
strip..
touch..
finger..
grep..
mount..
fsck..
more..
yes..
fsck..fsck..fsck..
umount..
sleep..

Re:You seem to be around my age, then. (Score:5, Funny)

by dr_dank ( 472072 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @04:06PM (#14347083) Homepage Journal

Was this back when nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them?

Re:One big reason for weird names (Score:5, Funny)

by MrP-(at work) ( 839979 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @04:24PM (#14347219)

Hello my name is Grbst Vndrbfr and I am trademark holder of "Asdfgwksprtxyz".

Gwksprt is an obvious attempt to steal from my customer base.

Please cease and desist your use of gwksprt immediately!

Sincerely,
Grbst Vndrbfr of Vvvvvvvvgggggrrrrwpry Software, Inc.

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:5, Funny)

by drauh ( 524358 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @04:57PM (#14347517) Journal

then, along came find(1). who the hell wrote that? :)

Re:You seem to be around my age, then. (Score:3, Funny)

by MirrororriM ( 801308 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @05:48PM (#14347879) Homepage Journal

Why, when I was a young programmer we had to write the code in the snow with our pee, and a compiler was just a word for the pilot of the hovering dirigible that read the instructions and passed them to the ALU, which was another fellow with an abacus. They would wrap the results around a rock, and drop it on my house when the program would exit. We had to walk uphill...

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:2, Funny)

by Kelvie ( 822725 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @05:50PM (#14347895)

Why not go one step further?
GTK+ = GIMP ToolKit
GIMP = GNU Image Manipulation Program
GNU = GNU's Not Unix

from here, ad infinitum.

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:2, Funny)

by nath_de ( 535933 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @06:01PM (#14348003)

I thought PHP = People Hate Perl

Noooo!!! (Score:3, Funny)

by SanityInAnarchy ( 655584 ) writes: <ninja@slaphack.com> on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @08:28PM (#14348942) Journal

Then Kreation would win! We can't have that!

Re:Alright, Names Do Matter (Score:3, Funny)

by Glonoinha ( 587375 ) writes: on Tuesday December 27, 2005 @11:37PM (#14349813) Journal

I presumed it meant 'Linux for black people'.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Re:Alright, Names Do Matter (Score:3, Funny)

by geminidomino ( 614729 ) * writes: on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @01:05AM (#14350138) Journal

So not only do you expect slashdotters to be fair, but you expect them to not be hypocritical?

Wanna buy a bridge?

How about PMP ... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @01:27PM (#14352696)

as in "Pimp My Picture" ?

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Linux's Difficulty with Names 946

Linux's Difficulty with Names More Login

Linux's Difficulty with Names

Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:5, Funny)

Hehe... (Score:5, Funny)

Gimp and xine are rather shabby names (Score:1, Funny)

Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

Slashdots difficulty with names (Score:5, Funny)

Hurrrrr (Score:2, Funny)

Yeah right (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Hehe... (Score:2, Funny)

Windows WE (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Names don't matter... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:REALLY! It's not THAT obtuse. (Score:5, Funny)

Comment removed (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

Re:What a moron. (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Names don't matter... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Windows' Difficulty with Names (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Hehe... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Linux names are fantastic (Score:5, Funny)

Re:You seem to be around my age, then. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:One big reason for weird names (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:5, Funny)

Re:You seem to be around my age, then. (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Like most of the *NIX family . . . (Score:2, Funny)

Noooo!!! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Alright, Names Do Matter (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Alright, Names Do Matter (Score:3, Funny)

How about PMP ... (Score:1, Funny)

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