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Announcing the Haskot

An historic announcement by Simon Peyton-Jones:

Now that the logo issue finally has been settled, it is time to select the proper Haskell mascot. As you are no doubt aware, Microsoft's involvement in Haskell means that we have moved from avoiding success at all cost to actively marketing the language, and any language striving for success is entirely dependent on a cute and distinctive mascot. Where would Perl be today without its camel?

Since the recent logo discussion has demonstrated once and for all the
futility of attempting a democratic process in the Haskell community -
to be quite honest, the elected logo looks like an error message from an IBM
mainframe - I have decided to decide on a mascot myself.

So I hereby declare the official Haskell mascot to be the koala, in
the form of the image attached below. Please ensure that this image
accompanies any material published on the web or on paper.

The mentioned image can be viewed here.

By Anton van Straaten at 2009-04-01 08:19 | History | other blogs | 8169 reads

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A historical announcement to

A historical announcement to be sure...

By Ehud Lamm at Wed, 2009-04-01 16:20 | login or register to post comments

An image is not a logo

An image makes a poor logo because it lacks the abstraction that make it unique and yet instantly recognizable (not to mention problems with reproducing it in contexts with limited resolution and color). The image could provide an inspiration or could be used to brief a graphic designer to develop a logo. To "ensure that this image accompanies any material published on the web or on paper" will make look Haskell amateurish. I suggest to restrict this clause to documents published for special occasions.

By Christian Lindig at Wed, 2009-04-01 16:40 | login or register to post comments

Excuse me for chipping in,

Excuse me for chipping in, but "whoosh" :-)

By jim burton at Wed, 2009-04-01 16:59 | login or register to post comments

Special occasions

Perhaps his point about restricting the Haskot's use to special occasions was significant?

For example, it seems that Simon and his minions - who occasionally act in his name, judging by the headers of the original email referenced above - regularly publish some sort of important announcement at around this time of year. The gravity of these announcements could only be enhanced by the use of the official Haskot.

By Anton van Straaten at Wed, 2009-04-01 17:10 | login or register to post comments

SML/NJ

I guess "swoosh" was a reference to the logo of SML/NJ, which could have been straight out of the book of Enormicon. If I remember correctly, it was the other way round.

By Christian Lindig at Wed, 2009-04-01 17:19 | login or register to post comments

or People's United Bank

or People's United Bank. Weird.

By Dave Herman at Thu, 2009-04-02 02:16 | login or register to post comments

Nuff said.

Nuff said.

By Ehud Lamm at Wed, 2009-04-01 17:20 | login or register to post comments

Perhaps his point about

Perhaps his point about restricting the Haskot's use to special occasions was significant?

Drat, the joke's on me! :-)

By jim burton at Wed, 2009-04-01 17:45 | login or register to post comments

Yes, I think this mascot

Yes, I think this mascot will be critical in ensuring Haskell's ultimate goals.

By naasking at Wed, 2009-04-01 17:51 | login or register to post comments