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Helix Code Changes Name To Ximian 160

Posted by Hemos from the only-from-the-mind-of-nat-and-miguel dept.
Ambrosius27 was one of a number of people who has sent the word that Helix Gnome is nada mas. It's now....Ximian - they've even got a name-change FAQ and everything.
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Helix Code Changes Name To Ximian More

Helix Code Changes Name To Ximian

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  • I sit corrected... Its a "Desktop Environment"

    http://www.helixcode.com/desktop [helixcode.com]

  • So they've renamed their company to, "Monkey." But not really Monkey, because it's not Simian, it's Ximian. And why Ximian over Zimian? Because X's are cool.

    Not just because X's are cool. These aren't ordinary monxeys, but X-monxeys - genetically superior and posessing incredible powers.

    Beaux No-Beaux: Able to play "She loves me, She loves me not" without a flower!

    Eve Olution: Able to see far beyond what mere mortal monxeys can. This gives her a better Outlook on things.

    G. Num Eric: Mathematical skills that are uncanny. Has been known to recalculate the impact of actions involving many variables. The rest of the team looks to him for quick decisions. He has a penchant for stupid names that often overrides his precision logic. This is his only weakness.

  • Bad move indeed, at a software company i used to work for, the PHB's decided to switch everything to M$ because "i read in the paper that borland went bankrupted or something, they got buyed by some company named Inside or something similar, and we won't get any support or new versions from a bankrupt company".
    --
  • Compare that to a company that takes their employees seriously such as, let's say, Andersen Consulting (no really, bear with me for a moment) where practically everybody is a vice-president, does no real important job, and is paid peanuts. Now don't even get me started about how seriously they take their customers!

    Really. Like BlueDraco says, job titles are meaningless, and the more pompous they sound the more certain you can be that the job stinks.
    --

  • Well, I'd like to have them named Crap Code, Inc. It will probably never cause trademark problems.

    And no no no no no this is not because I think they suck, I use Helix Code all the time. It's just that I could see the humor of a "guaranteed trademark-free" name like Crap Code, Inc. and I think the name of Ximian is even more of an insult to the Good Stuff they write.

    So H.C.: I'll give you 3 months time to pick up the name, with no response I might just start using it myself ;-)

    It's... It's...
  • Most of us have been using these things called "Bookmarks" for oh some time now.
  • SmithKline Beecham is actually now known as GlaxoSmithKline following their merger with Glaxo Wellcome
  • English is the the promiscuous Y chromosome of languages...all sorts of cruft accumulates in it... ;)



  • Bad monkey!


  • Interesting... Miguel is not even sure of the name change!? His Slashdot information still links to http://primates.helixcode.com/~miguel/ [helixcode.com]

    Someone may want to tell him his company changed names! :)

    -Bob Zill
    My very first Slashdot post!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • s/French/Latin/

    --

  • OMG! GNOME (Score:5)

    by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:46PM (#515085)
    Gnome's
    Now
    Owned by
    Monkey
    Enthusiasts!
  • So they've renamed their company to, "Monkey." But not really Monkey, because it's not Simian, it's Ximian. And why Ximian over Zimian? Because X's are cool. HelixCode is a good name. Certainly better than Ximian. Ximian reminds me of Verizon, which reminds me of Barbizon. So, great, they get stronger trademark claims out of Ximian. They also get people saying, "Huh?" when they first see Ximian. I would have honestly preferred "Home & Garden Gnome" over Ximian.

    Did they contact Namix [namix.com]? Should they have?

  • with a big schlong and invulverable balls! And I quote:

    "The genitalia of the Ximian red ape is quite visible between its legs, but don't attempt to disable it with a strike to that region. It has almost no nerve endings in its genitals, which additionally allows the red ape to make love for hours without orgasming. Instead, aim your blow for the sharp bone ridge above its eyes; the sonar organ located therein will ring with the force of your blow for many minutes, stunning the creature."

  • Anyone ever read any of the Ted Nancy books? (Gimme a minute, this *is* related to the topic at hand.) He writes a bunch of crazy letters to people and companies. They range from dumb to silly to just plain scary.

    One of the stranger ones (in his first book; his second two books are exponentially funnier) was a letter to Shasta Soda about how he heard that they were changing their name to "Laarksvard's Hot Cream." (He also wrote to the Taj Mahal, saying that he heard they were being converted into a Staples Office Supply Chain Store...)

    When I read this, all I could think of was "Shasta" and "Laarksvard's Hot Cream"...

  • Is it just me or (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    is there one guy out there, with some massive speech impediment who keeps coming up with these dumb-ass tech names:

    Agilent
    Itanium
    Duron
    Ximian

    He must be stopped...
  • The best way to accelerate a windows box is at 9.8 meters per second square.

    Love your autosig!

  • Does make you think of a thousand monkeys, working at a thousand Xterms, doesn't it?

    --
  • $ which helix-update
    /usr/bin/helix-update
    $ which ximian-update
    ximian-update: Command not found

    Ok, NOW what? :)

  • Re:Wow (Score:1)

    by McKing ( 1017 )
    or Lucent,
    or iBiblio,
    or Agilent,

    or any of the other "funky, trademarkable names" (translation: stupid, annoying, meaningless) that a lot of big companies have changed their name to over the last few years....
  • Big corporations blow millions and millions paying hipsters to come up with these rubbish words. It's insane.
  • Does this mean that if I order the CDROM, version I'll get a "Barrel full'o'monkeys" game too?
  • When you apply for your free COMDEX pass, put your job title down as Redshirt, grunt, slave, meathead, Anonymous Coward, Karma Whore, or Peon. There's something fun about walking around a convention with a badge that reads

    Patrick Draper
    IBM
    Galley Slave/Rower

  • that's tianamin...not spelled like that but then I can't type chinese characters...Only Japanese
  • what's wrong boys lame.com was already taken?

  • Re:Could be worse: Syzgzy? Ibiblio? (Score:3)

    by grammar nazi ( 197303 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @09:29PM (#515099) Journal
    If you do a google search [google.com] on ximian then you come up with the following funny link...
    Some important lessons for you
    ... The genitalia of the Ximian red ape is quite visible between its legs, but don't attempt to disable it with a strike to that region. It has almost no nerve ...
    www.armory.com/~crisper/Fiction/lessons.html [armory.com] - 15k

  • I know the asian kung-fu knock off movies are in style right now, but am i the only one asking how the hell do you pronounce that???
  • That's a sure way to make sure that the domain name that you want has just been snapped up by someone else.

    When you want to change your name, you first see what www.???.com isn't taken, and then use that. If you tell people your new name before you register your ???, then it won't be available any more.

    Sad fact of life that the internet is full of arsehole squatters.
  • I thought that Solaris was going to put Helix Gnome as one of their main X window managers? Is that still on??? Will it now be "Solaris shipped with Ximian"???

  • follow-up (Score:3)

    by grammar nazi ( 197303 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @09:38PM (#515104) Journal
    I'm sorry to reply to my own comment, but this is too funny. From the site mentioned in my previous post...
    The genitalia of the Ximian red ape is quite visible between its legs, but don't attempt to disable it with a strike to that region. It has almost no nerve endings in its genitals, which additionally allows the red ape to make love for hours without orgasming. Instead, aim your blow for the sharp bone ridge above its eyes; the sonar organ located therein will ring with the force of your blow for many minutes, stunning the creature.
    Will Helix^H^H^H Ximian Gnome allow me to make love for hours without orgasming? Try to picture a little Krynn gnome with bright red genitalia between his legs! ...wait, don't!

  • Re:yikes (Score:3)

    by Coward, Anonymous ( 55185 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:20PM (#515105)
    am i the only one asking how the hell do you pronounce that???

    Assuming everyone else has read the FAQ [ximian.com], yes you are the only one.
  • You misunderstood. I'm AGAINST inflated job titles. But I'm also against ridiculous job titles because they're just an evolution of the inflated ones. I'm glad my employer just brands me a "Programmer".

  • The Real Reason Behind the Change (Score:4)

    by Sheeple Police ( 247465 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:20PM (#515107)
    As we all know, the coding is being done by a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters. Feeling that they were being strongly misrepresented by the name Helix (which evoked images of a certain black cat during market analysis), they staged a revolt, flinging their feces in broad arcs throughout the air. In order to prevent the monkeys from being bought out by Microsoft (as their fecal flinging abilities are what Microsoft values in an employee), the Helix team instituted a name change to Ximian.

    Don't believe me? Read between the lines here:
    How do you say Ximian? ZIM-ee-un, to rhyme with "simian."


    See? No further proof needed.
  • take it from the grammar nazi...

    XINAWM= Xena, Warrier Mistress

    Lucy Lawless! aaaah...

  • Surprising facts (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I tried to search for Ximian with Google. Here's one of the results:

    "... The genitalia of the Ximian red ape is quite visible between its legs, but don't attempt to disable it with a strike to that region. It has almost no nerve endings in its genitals, which additionally allows the red ape to make love for hours without orgasming. Instead, aim your blow for the sharp bone ridge above its eyes; the sonar organ located therein will ring with the force of your blow for many minutes, stunning the creature. ..."

    http://www.armory.com/~crisper/Fiction/lessons.h tm l
  • Ted Nancy was Jerry Seinfeld. How this is topical I know not.

    --
  • This is the kind of thing that happens when every damn domain name has been taken already.

    Ximian. Great. Not be confused with the similarly spelled but equally meaningless Ximean, Ximeon, and Ximien. (quick, go grab those TLDs before some other bastard does).

    We're really winning some "linux is easy" converts with that one.

    W
    -------------------
  • Hey, sounds like a soda-pop marketing strategy...

    First we change our name... and everyone rushes out to by new tees... then because everyone complains about the new name... we'll switch back to the old name and everyone will rush out and buy new tees and hail us for going back...

    "Helix Classic"

  • Re:It just the first step... (Score:3)

    by sharkey ( 16670 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @06:01PM (#515113)
    Followed immediately by Cro-Mag-Gnome.

    Don't bother booing. I just cut my own ears off to teach myself a lesson for that, and I won't be able to hear.

    --
  • Nothing else changing, eh? So Solaris is still going to bundle HelixCode Gnome?

    That must suck for Ximian, now that they have their own 'Ximian Gnome'.

    :>

    Sorry. Just being a pedantic geek. Obviously, at the minimum a search and replace of all instances of 'Helix Code' are in order.

    (for the record, I liked the old name much better. oh well)

    - Jeff A. Campbell
  • Western bread! WTF???

    Ummm, now it all makes sense doesn't it? ;-|

    Earl
  • I read the FAQ, but I don't quite see what the point was. First of all, 'Helix Code' was a much cooler name. Second of all, what have they done lately that's ground shaking? Not a whole lot. I think this name change is simply to draw attention to themselves (and away from KDE?). This is a poor way to clear out the cobwebs and it mostly adds confusion.

    From the FAQ...
    Has anything else changed?
    No

  • simian
    sim-ee-en
    (as in the monkey logo)
  • See subject.
  • I'd rather be called a 'Rocket Scientist' instead of a 'Chief Systems Officer' any day...

    So would I. But a Rocket Scientist is a proper job title (unless you're not working with rockets). But I'd MUCH rather be called a "Chief Systems Officer" than a "Propeller head" for example.

    Real job titles are never pompous. That's why I call them "real". Otherwise they should be called pompous or ridiculous accordingly.

  • FAQ? (Score:1)

    by Dan D. ( 10998 )

    From the FAQ: Can I get a new monkey that says Ximian.com?

    I'm fairly certain this question did NOT enter MY mind when I thought "Oh Helix Code is changing their name?"

    In fact, I'd like to know who DOES think this sort of thing? And why they're asking it frequently. And more importantantly what the heck are they doing with the OLD monkey?

  • Sorry. For future reference, I'll remember not to post when I'm dead tired- I may say some odd things in such a state.
  • To me it looks like they just want protect themselves from another future round of "cease and desist" letters. Don't go looking for conspiratory theories where none can be found. The sky is not falling.
    --
  • Hey... from what I've heard from conspiracy theorists "Lucent" stands for "Lucifer Enterprises" - i.e. they're a bunch of devil worshipers :).

    But iBiblio really DOES mean something - 'Biblio' as in 'book', in other words "online library" (which it pretty much is).
  • Real job titles are never pompous.

    At a job I held for several years, my official title was "The Computer Guy". I don't know about pompousness, but it was really pretty accurate.

  • Someone please start up a site called "www.f*ckedproductnames.com".

  • haha (Score:1)

    by aok ( 5389 )
    I was thinking something in between both of your's...Western Noodles :)
  • Here it is:

    http://www.lexicon-branding.com/ [lexicon-branding.com]

    You should really check out the different things they claim for naming, such as the Swiffer, the name Pentium for Intel's processors...

  • Job Title's shouldn't mean anything. If your job title means that you don't care then you I think there is a serious reality issue here. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you are over reacting.

  • Re:Wow (Score:1)

    by tigert ( 8580 )

    Believe me, "Helix Code" was just as weird at first..

    A name just gets a meaning from things that are associated with it, it is just a "label" for a group of things. Ximian is pretty ok, it could be a lot worse, like gWhiz or something :o)

  • Well, the evolution of Evolution is unfortunately still hosted at Eazel, so their evolution is no Evolution. Ximian is an odd name, and I think Neanderthal Gnome might be better- after all, Neanterthals actually were stronger and had a slightly larger brain capacity than modern Homo Sapiens Sapiens, so perhaps the interface will be more intelligent than that of some early bacteria or primate.

    Good luck to all involved in the Gnome/GTK+ efforts, no matter what they call themselves.

  • Re:Where it's coming from? (Score:3)

    by Darchmare ( 5387 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @06:05PM (#515131)
    What they're saying is that they are a guaranteed source for verified, certified, known-good code. That is, to distinguish themselves from any potential forking going on. That's the business model.

    Makes sense to me, regardless of how cool 'Helix Code' sounded and how dumb the new name sounds.

    - Jeff A. Campbell
  • Ximian - (noun): A monkey that has drunk way to much "ZIMA." Usually followed by an urp-Xplat, which is the normal offspring of drinking more than one "ZIMA."

    --
  • It said in the FAQ that the reason they changed the name was to provide "trademark protection". Why not just trademark the, IMHO much better sounding, Helix Code name?

    I think that it would be much easier to get people that have never used Linux to use something that says Helix Code than something that says Ximian. I mean, I can relate to Helix Code - I've heard of Helix (Double Helix DNA stuff) and I've heard of Code (Programming, Cyrptographic, whatever), but Ximian?? I had to double check the webpage to make sure I spelled it right! Are they sure they made the right move on this?
    --
  • I dont know about anyone else, but Ximian sounds like an 80's computer game to me.

    I can see a whole lot of emu freaks going "hmmmm, Ximian, yeah I remember that one! you had to shoot stuff or something, damn, that is one huge ROM"

  • Name collision (Score:5)

    by SimplyCosmic ( 15296 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @06:09PM (#515135) Homepage
    Well, a quick search of the U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System [uspto.gov] pops up with around 184 matches with the term "Helix", including a slew of "Helix Technology" varients.

    Still, "Ximian"? Yikes.

  • Ian Peters
    Infinite Monkey

    That's sad actually. This funky titles trend is getting progressively more iritating. It all began with dotcoms giving their imployees "amusing" job titles in lieu of decent salaries. I hope this trend will die with the demise of the dotcom "culture" because it indicates the companies don't take their staff seriously. This raises my concern that they don't take their customers seriously either. It also makes it difficult to figure out who you're actually dealing with when you're in a discussion with a "packet pusher" (sysadmin, network technician or a tcp/ip developer?). Go to your manager and demand a normal, "boring" job title along with a raise. Just giving some free advice as a friend.

  • first guess - Shell . Helix is motor oil.
  • You'll need to drive screws into the sides of your head, then, to keep your glasses from falling off.
  • mmm engineer I. in a few years....engineer II. someday, maybe, senior engineer. very useful. lets people know which decade i was born in (+/- 1.5)
  • The chief spokes-monkey declared the official communications protocol of Ximian to be the Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite [ietf.org]. He then screeched, beat his chest and threatened to pelt feces at users of inferior protocols like SMTP.

  • Re:Surprising facts (Score:4)

    by BlowCat ( 216402 ) on Thursday January 11, 2001 @03:12AM (#515152)
    It has almost no nerve endings in its genitals, which additionally allows the red ape to make love for hours without orgasming.

    It also allows the red ape to develop software for years without delivering a stable version.

  • I thought a trademark was localized to a specific trade, but corporate America is screwed up.

    It probably has something to do with Helix Educational Software [carolina.com].

  • Inprise.

    Everybody remember when Borland changed their name to this? Everybody remember how stupid it was? What's their name now?

    Yeah.

  • Let's hope this doesn't go the way of OpenSales after they changed their name to something strange (Zelerate).

  • I really wish they'd stop wasting time on ridiculous things like this, and update some of the packages that they originally released with helixcode.

    Mike Roberto
    - GAIM: MicroBerto
  • Uh. Helix Gnome has been the _only_ version of Gnome in Debian for months.
    --
    Obfuscated e-mail addresses won't stop sadistic 12-year-old ACs.

  • There seems to be a lot of sucky name changing going on lately. Ximian??? What's that? A monkey that knows how to run a photocopier? This is almost as bad as the one Andersen Consulting did. Now they're... umm... see? It's really bad and I can't even remember it.

  • maybe... (Score:4)

    by unformed ( 225214 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:22PM (#515181)
    they should pick a funky little symbol, and change their name to "The Gnome Previously Known As Helix"
    --------------

  • Who owned Helix trademark? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And when?
  • Apparently, it's "zimm-eee-ann". Accent on the ZIM.


    ...phil
  • Poop. You know, I forgot about that. That's exactly the sort of shoddy fact-checking that's gonna get me fired one of these days.

    (Actually, SKB/GSK is a huge employer of tech folks in this area of PA. I really should know this.)

  • Re:Hmm....just a thought.... (Score:3)

    by evand ( 2571 ) <esd AT cmu DOT edu> on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @06:32PM (#515193) Homepage
    Uh, no. GNOME 1.2 has been/is the version of GNOME in woody/sid. Helix GNOME is based on GNOME 1.2, hence your confusion.
  • Go to ebay.com . Click on the "Antiques" category, then the "economic fallout" subcategory, and click on "dotcom clearing house". There will be approximately 2,938,032,238 belly-up dotcoms there. Search for "open" AND "source" AND "helix" AND "code" AND "linux" and "GNOME" to narrow the choices down to approximately 2,300,323,232. From there, click on the "mascots" drop-down menu, scroll down through "jumping man" "happy runner" "skydiver" and so on, and about 281 scrolled pages through, between "monsters" and "gazelle" should be a selection titled "spidermonkey". Double click that, then click on the 543rd item on the following page. Here, you will be able to buy helixcode's old domain name and identification. Read the fine print, because in doing so you will learn that the only assets you gain are the domain name and company identification, and you will be assuming all of helixcode's tax burden for the year 2000.

  • ...this just in: we've spoken Miguel de Icaza personally who has denied this vicuous hoax. Reportedly, Helix will continue to be the name, they didn't really mean it.

    translation: the slashdot audience hates the name, we can just claim it a hoax and keep the old name.... keep thinking of a better one.

    Or, is this just to compete with Xaero - upon startx the little monkey will do a backflip and shoot you with his rail gun....

  • But I LIKED Helix... (Score:3)

    by zCyl ( 14362 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @07:38PM (#515202)
    Can we continually fork each release of Ximian and name it Helix again?

  • Not an individual, but a company called Lexicon, I quote from CNET (this was the first reference to them I could find)

    The name Itanium was chosen to "reflect the strength and performance of the processor," said Jami Dover, vice president of marketing at Intel. Sausalito, California-based Lexicon, which also coined the chip names Celeron and Xeon, came up with the name, she said.

    They are the ones responsible for this weird name trend, I can't seem to find their website though, can anyone help me out?

  • They can't pronounce they're own name! (Score:3)

    by HydroCarbon10 ( 40784 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:30PM (#515210) Journal
    From the FAQ:
    How do you say Ximian?
    ZIM-ee-un, to rhyme with "simian."

    This is incorrect. The correct pronunciation (read slowly):
    St-oooooooo-pid.

  • Wow (Score:2)

    by drivers ( 45076 )
    That's the stupidest name I ever heard. What genius thought of that?

    (It's not flamebait; it's my opinion.)

    signed,
    a Helix Gnome user

  • Re:The Real Reason Behind the Change (Score:5)

    by itp ( 6424 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:32PM (#515213)
    Heh, your theory dovetails nicely with the fact that my business cards all read:

    Ian Peters
    Infinite Monkey

    Just to add fuel to the fire...

    --
    Ian Peters

  • Ugh! (Score:3)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:33PM (#515214) Homepage Journal
    I'm confiscating their crack pipes!

  • The name change. (Score:5)

    by miguel ( 7116 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @07:49PM (#515218) Homepage
    Nat and I arrived to the name "Helix Code" (which was the name under which we incorporated our "International GNOME Support" company) after much debate.

    The project began By the end of the summer we were still using IGS as our name, and we had been talking to a lot of people about IGS. Although we did not like the name, and we started looking for a new one.

    Nat had picked up the name Hopscotch, which I did not like. The name also had problems because some company owned the trademark for the name, so we had to look for another one. The debate for the name had created so many constraints that we were uncapable of agreeing to the suggestions that the other one did.

    Eventually, we came up with two lists of suggestions, and Nat said `Ok, remove the ones you dont hate from my list, and I will do the same to yours'.

    And we ended up with two empty lists.

    So we were in this Evolution kind of mood (because of our product, and our recent interest in evolution), and Nat suggested finally `what about Code Helix?' and given our previous frustration, we quickly agreed on it. We later that day changed our minds, as we thought that Code Helix would make people think `They do developer tools' (I do not remember what was the thought process that followed here), but we changed the name to `Helix Code'.

    Now, this was not a final name, it was just a temporary name that we would use to incorporate the company, and we would change it as soon as possible. Neither Nat nor I liked the name originally, so every time we told a friend "We are starting a company!" when the question about the name came in, we would explain for five minutes why it was not such a great name and so on.

    We began the work to find a new name almost in march 2000, when we were told by our lawyers that it would be very hard to avoid other companies to produce Helix products (like this complete copy of Helix Code that is not associated with us: Helix Code UK [helixcode.co.uk]).

    A temporary name that Jacob liked was "Loolix Bode" which was what the ATT 411 service guessed when we called for information about the company once.

    The process of the name change had been going for a number of months and many names were suggested. Both Nat and I experimented extreme frustration and lack of imagination after countless meetings to change the name. Jacob to this day calls the company "Loolix Bode 2000". And Ian still calls the company "Mr. Rupert's Quality Software Group" (mr rupert being the Helix mascot).

    After a year, I am very attached to Helix Code, but the name and products we would produce would be pretty much unprotectable, and there would be no guarantee to customers that they were purchasing software or services from us. And too many companies already had Helix-prefixed products that were in similar domains.

    There were a lot of nice sounding names, and various names we scanned from various countries, towns, cultures, languages, but most of the ones I liked were at least taken on the DNS.

    There are even more details to the story, but they are quite boring.

    The Ximian name fits nicely with our monkey logo and with our monkey culture and with the evolutionary theme that has been in the company since we started it.

    Best wishes,
    Miguel.

  • Re:yikes (Score:2)

    by afc ( 12569 )
    What does that name have to do with kung fu?

    I mean, even if you haven't read the FAQ [ximian.com], it's pretty obvious that this is yet another pun on their favourite simian theme (cf bonobo etc).

    And lastly, please Taco, take some lessons in Spanish, because that line was really embarassing.
    --

  • In a related story, Siemens announced that it would be changing its name to Xiemens. Also, Smith-Kline-Beecham will become Xmith-Kline-Beecham, Sony will become Xony, and this reporter, formerly known by the name Sammy Baby, will become Xammy Baby. All of the aforementioned organizations also announced plans to introduce new logos with lowercase letters, sans-serif fonts, and neat swooshes, kinda like the Nike logo.
  • Probably western side / face is a more coherent translation, not that that makes any sense either when applied to Gnome....
  • Ximian -> naimiX -> Name Ex / X

    It is a metareference to the fact that they had to change the name.

    Or I read too much Internet.
    __
  • Sure, it's a horrible name. But so are Pentium, Inspiron, Duron, Inprise, and all the m/.+ent$/ names.

    BUT WE GET USED TO THEM and eventually we can say them and spell them without hardly thinking about it.

    They'll do fine.
  • It's worldwide. Must be a stupidity virus or something. In Brazil they tried to change the name of the Petrobras oil company to Petrobrax. People screamed so loud they backed out in 24 hours! Maybe we could do the same with Helix^H^H^H^H^HXimian?

    If the Helix name has for some reason become verboten, I think they should present a list of names and cast a vote. Ximian, frankly, sucks. I'm e-mailing them right now.

  • fyi, English is a Germanic language
  • Oddly enough, there's a well known naming corporation called A Hundred Monkeys. You have to wonder. Simian conspiracy?

  • Re:Hmm... (Score:3)

    by technomancerX ( 86975 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2001 @05:38PM (#515230) Homepage
    As much as I hate to defend Helix errr Ximian they didn't take anything... the founder of the Gnome project is a cofounder of the company and most if not all of the core Gnome developers work for Helix... in addition Helix is the official distributor or binary packages for Gnome...

    On an unrelated note Ximian is a REALLY stupid name while Helix Code was actually kind of cool...

    .technomancer

  • But could this change be the thing hodling the Debian project from including Helixcode Gnome in their Distro?? According to the list there was some copyright issues....

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