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Ubuntu Hardy Heron Announced

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the limping-llama-still-to-come dept.

Jono Bacon, Community Manager for Ubuntu, has announced development on the next version of the popular Linux distribution name "Hardy Heron". "Not only will the Ubuntu community continue to do what it does best, produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but this release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008."

15 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. I guess they were scared of copyright issues... by The+Orange+Mage · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...because I would have loved to see a Hungry Hippo release.

    1. Re:I guess they were scared of copyright issues... by paeanblack · · Score: 5, Funny

      As opposed to a Spoonerism of Hairy Hard-on?

    2. Re:I guess they were scared of copyright issues... by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 5, Funny

      And how did you feel, being denied these hungry, hungry hippos?

      --
      What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
  2. And hurts Ubuntu by ACS+Solver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've said it before and say it again... these silly names are hurting Ubuntu. When you need to convince a boss that installing Ubuntu on office computers is the way to go, you'd need a more professional sounding name. "Windows XP" or "BeOS 5" sounds fine. But "Ubuntu Hardy Heron" does not. Sure you can use the 7.10 number, but it seems that the Ubuntu community prefers not to use the numbers, and these silly names actually crop up within the OS more.

    1. Re:And hurts Ubuntu by nuzak · · Score: 5, Interesting

      > Sure you can use the 7.10 number

      They do. On the front page of ubuntu.com. The only place I know of where they show up programmatically is in sources.list.

      Anyway, corporate only cares when they're reselling. You saying it's hurting Ubuntu doesn't present any actual evidence that it is, and the bald assertion is hardly new or insightful.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    2. Re:And hurts Ubuntu by hhlost · · Score: 5, Informative

      I develop a medical database that requires a server to be installed locally, for security reasons. I try to convince the hospitals to let me use Ubuntu instead of MS Windows for obvious reasons, but so far have been unsuccessful. My latest attempt was thwarted, at least in part, when the IT staff had a good laugh at the "Feisty Fawn" name.

    3. Re:And hurts Ubuntu by popejeremy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If a "professional" IT department is going to choose software based on who has the best name, they're already fucked.

    4. Re:And hurts Ubuntu by kebes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's really too bad, because obviously important tech decisions should not be made based on the product name. If the product does the job, then that's what should matters. Besides, many software names sound goofy until you get used to them--I'm sure some people thought "Dreamweaver" was a rather ambiguous and strange-sounding name, but once it attains mindshare, the name gains the appropriate recognition. Same goes for "Powerpoint," "Photoshop," "Apache," and so on.

      Besides, as others have pointed out, the discussion should not have gotten to "Feisty Fawn" in any case. That would be like discounting Windows Vista because "Longhorn" sounds silly. "Longhorn" was a pre-release code-name, with the final release called "Windows Vista." Similarly, "Feisty Fawn" is a pre-release code-name, with the final release called "Ubuntu 7.04."

      I don't want to insult your coworkers, but as far as I'm concerned, allowing jokes about a product name to cloud one's technical judgment is not at all professional. And I really don't think the solution is to refrain from using pre-release code-names (which are helpful to the programmers)... because people making unprofessional judgments will just focus their baseless ridicule on something else (icons, artwork, color scheme, website, forums, personalities of people involved, etc.).

  3. Spoonerish by minginqunt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ubuntu Hairy Hardo... I mean, er, Hardy Heron, was announced today to much polite coughing.

  4. Re:Kinda dirty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll start calling myself Cranky Coward!

  5. Re:Silly by ianare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The version numbers are actually quite logical - first number = year, second number = month. So 7.10 means october 2007, 8.04 means april 2008. It actually makes more sense than a lot of other software release numbers.
    As far as the code names, well they are silly, but silly can be good. All too often we take ourselves a little too seriously. If you're pitching it to the boss (who is very much against silliness - the stupid bastard), then go by: Linux Operating System Long Term Support edition v 8.04 or something like that ...

  6. ObMrGarrison by sharkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bleeding Beaver

    I just don't trust anything that bleeds for 5 days and doesn't die.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  7. Just use the adjective. by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I say we're installing "Ubuntu Feisty", sure, it sounds... different. But it doesn't actually sound stupid, like it would if I said "Feisty Fawn".

    Same with Gusty. In fact, Hardy works even better.

    I also tend to like names that don't actually offend programmers. Windows XP seems to me a deliberate attempt to steal the XP acronym -- and they have. XP used to stand for "Xtreme Programming", which is actually a very useful concept, and one which might have avoided some of the dumber problems Windows has had.

    And they do this all the time. .NET, Word, Office, Internet Explorer, etc. They choose names that are so generic that you get most people confusing them with something else almost instantly. It's difficult to talk about a "Word processor", because most people hear that and think MS Word. It took Firefox long enough, and we still have to deal with people who think the Internet is Internet Explorer.

    So now we have names like "Ubuntu" and "Hardy", and I think they work well -- they're distinctive, and they don't actually sound like anything else in the same field.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  8. Re:Silly by thegnu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the most logical versioning system I've ever seen, because you know how old the release is. And you can't get confused by anything, at all. Higher number? Newer OS. Lower number? Older OS. As a practice, try arranging the following versions in the right order:

    6.06
    5.11
    7.04
    8.04
    7.10
    20.01

    I bet you can do it. Plus, tell me when they were released. Now rearrange the following and tell me what date they were released (month/year):

    Windows Vista
    Windows 3.11
    Windows XP
    Windows Millenium
    Windows NT 4
    DOS 6
    Windows 2000
    Windows 2000 SP1
    Windows 2000 SP2
    Windows 2000 SP3
    Windows 2000 SP4
    Windows XP SP2
    Windows XP SP1
    Windows NT 4 SP1, etc

    As far as silly codenames go, someone might want to know how Feisty Fawn compares to Longhorn, or Dolly, or some crap:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_codenames

    So people wouldn't build a business on Zamboni, would they? How about Fidalgo? Would you manage your mail with Touchdown? How about let your kids run Whistler? I mean, really. You should berate people for being morons if they can't read a code name without letting it alter their opinion of the viability of the product in their IT infrastructure.

    If people don't like things made by people with a sense of humor, maybe they should get the fuck out the tubes and stop blocking my passage.

    --
    Please stop stalking me, bro.
  9. Re:Kinda dirty? by Cranky+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too late...