What's your favorite operating system name? [Archive]

gflores

September 29th, 2005, 04:50 AM

jbrader

September 29th, 2005, 05:01 AM

Favorite: Mac OS * not because it sounds particularly cool but because it is what is says.

aysiu

September 29th, 2005, 05:01 AM

I'd have to say Fedora.
I don't use it, but I think it sounds cool.
In fact, all of the Linux distros I do like have names I hate (Mepis, Ubuntu, Blag, and Knoppix).

23meg

September 29th, 2005, 05:02 AM

nice thread.. i love to rant about names.

Best: Slackware
Worst: YOPER (Your Operating System), AGNULA (A Gnu/Linux AudioDistribution?)
Least Imaginative: MacOS, AmigaOS, Windows, Lindows, DOS

TrailerTrash

September 29th, 2005, 05:05 AM

LOL>.this is going to be fun!
Best: PCLinuxOS, PC-BSD, DesktopBSD....The names says it all!
Worst: Linspire...Its retarted. Mandriva...It sounds like a bad male/crossdressers club. Lycoris...sounds like a bad case of STD! Mepis..its plain stupid sounding
Wierd....Yes i agree, to many to type!
Cool...Damn Small....LOL..

matthew

September 29th, 2005, 05:14 AM

Best: Solaris (I just like the name), Ubuntu (also kind of weird, though, until you know the meaning)
Worst: Xandros, Mandriva
Bad: MEPIS (me-****)
Weird: SuSe, Debian, Gentoo, Knoppix and tons more
Cool: Slackware, DragonflyBSD, Fedora (without the word "Core")
Neutral: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD
Boring, but descriptive: Scientific Linux

Sheinar

September 29th, 2005, 05:20 AM

I rather like Solaris.

For the worst, Lindows was pretty damn awful. I also thought Ubuntu was pretty horrid when I first heard it as well. Still do actually, even though I like what the name represents.

23meg

September 29th, 2005, 05:25 AM

i have to agree that Solaris is also cute. reminds me of the book and the movie(s).

xmastree

September 29th, 2005, 05:32 AM

Best: SlackwareWorst: Slackware.

Slack. Sounds so negative.

From Dictionary.com:
Moving slowly; sluggish
Lacking in activity; not busy
Not tense or taut; loose
Lacking firmness; flaccid
Lacking in diligence or due care or concern; negligent

matthew

September 29th, 2005, 05:49 AM

Worst: Slackware.
Slack. Sounds so negative.
From Dictionary.com:
Moving slowly; sluggish
Lacking in activity; not busy
Not tense or taut; loose
Lacking firmness; flaccid
Lacking in diligence or due care or concern; negligent In the US a slacker can also be [slang] someone who is despised by the establishment because of an intentional non-participation in the status quo. It was taken up unofficially by some people in the 1990's as a form of social commentary or civil disobedience--taking a known perjorative and choosing that as the unofficial name of your community. Kind of like "computer geek."

cactus

September 29th, 2005, 08:30 AM

cAos. Sounds cool.

manicka

September 29th, 2005, 08:44 AM

That's easy.... Ubuntu :)

Teroedni

September 29th, 2005, 09:01 AM

AMIGA
But that probably because i am a die hard fan;)

Others Good Name
Solaris
Hoary Hedgehog(Cool Name)
Brezzy Bagder(Cool name)
Aros:)

Lord Illidan

September 29th, 2005, 09:23 AM

Horny Hedgehog... That sounds good.. lol..

One of the worst in my opinion is Debian.. The name means nothing to me. Ubuntu also sounds strange..

Zenwalk has the best name in my opinion, but I don't like it as much as Ubuntu.
Gentoo, I also like the name, despite it's weirdness.

And Mandrake sounds better than Mandriva...

xmastree

September 29th, 2005, 09:38 AM

In the US a slacker can also be [slang] someone who is despised by the establishment because of an intentional non-participation in the status quo.So I looked into it.
From wikipedia:
The name "Slackware" stems from the term "Slack," as defined by the Church of the SubGenius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius).

The central belief in the Church is the pursuit of Slack, which generally stands for the sense of freedom, independence, and original thinking that comes when you achieve your personal goalsSo that's where they were coming from...

http://home.pacbell.net/watadoo/BobHeadSM.gif

Kvark

September 29th, 2005, 10:53 AM

Cool: Unix, Linux, Solaris, Symphony.

Bad:
BSD, OS/2, DOS - Those 3 should have let the marketing guys, not the programmers pick the names.
Yellow Dog - Is that the search feature in Windows XP?
Mandriva - They should have stayed with Mandrake.
Vista - They should have stayed with Longhorn.
OSX - They have just as little imagination as X-box, ActiveX, DirectX, X.org, XChat, X-files, X-men, Triple X and many more.

Weird: Mepis, Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian.
They all sound like they belong in Star Wars:
Captain Mepis - We don't have enough fuel to reach Gentoo.
Queen Fedora - We must land and refuel on the planet Ubuntu.
Captain Mepis - But that planet is a Debian stronghold!
Queen Fedora - At least the Debians are not trying to lock us in like 'the empire' does.
...But Google has proven that a weird word can make a great trademark so maybe it's a good thing to have a weird name.

23meg

September 29th, 2005, 11:07 AM

i've come across many people who've likened the pronounciation of Debian to "lesbian" and never really understood them; there are thousands of words ending with -ian..

i think some of them are behind this: http://www.lesbian.mine.nu/ :)

brt

September 29th, 2005, 11:13 AM

best: ubuntu
well, it may sound weird but it has a "really cool" meaning! it brings humanity in a computer-context - this is exactly what is needed... i strongly appreciate that.

worst: gates OS

Dragonfly_X

September 29th, 2005, 02:46 PM

I also thought Ubuntu was pretty horrid when I first heard it as well. Still do actually, even though I like what the name represents.

I have to agree with u. Growing up in South Africa I know exactly how to pronounce it and it sounds very tribal and unsophisticated but it's not to bad, and the word has a special meaning for all Africans an indeed anyone who believe in the meaning of the word Ubuntu. But even worse is Kubuntu, it sounds like you've got something stuck in your throat when your trying to say Ubuntu. :eek:

TrailerTrash

September 29th, 2005, 03:01 PM

KingBahamut

September 29th, 2005, 03:05 PM

Inspired by the criticism of Ubuntu's name. Try to be impartial. :) Can be *nix, BSD, Mac, Windows, past or present.

And if you want throw in what you think is the worst name for an OS or other feelings you have about an OS name (funniest, weirdest, whatever).

Best: Solaris or Gentoo or Symphony
Worst: Puppy Linux
Weird: Too many to mention...
Cool: Damn Small Linux (gotta love how it contains a profanity)

edit: forgot Solaris. By far the best, IMO.

Best:Ubuntu, of course.
Worst:BioBrew , it just sounds disgusting.....(http://bioinformatics.org/biobrew/)
Weird:TaproBane, I cant even come up with a what that name means....(http://taprobane.org/)
Cool:Edubuntu, Because variation is a good thing
NonFunctional:Censornet - Dont fsckin Censor ME!!!!!!(http://www.censornet.com/)

void_false

September 29th, 2005, 03:06 PM

Make ******* users shiver - say UNIX... UNIX that just r0x0r! LOL ;)
Solaris is pretty sexy too.

Weird: Ubuntu ;-) That scared my Dad to death. He's hardcore M$ fan. :eek:

BTW how do you spell G in Gentoo? G as in "good" or as "george"?

earobinson

September 29th, 2005, 03:26 PM

Cool: Unix, Linux, Solaris, Symphony.
Weird: Mepis, Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian.
They all sound like they belong in Star Wars:
Captain Mepis - We don't have enough fuel to reach Gentoo.
Queen Fedora - We must land and refuel on the planet Ubuntu.
Captain Mepis - But that planet is a Debian stronghold!
Queen Fedora - At least the Debians are not trying to lock us in like 'the empire' does.
...But Google has proven that a weird word can make a great trademark so maybe it's a good thing to have a weird name.

I love it

Best: Fedora (maybe because i love the art they have who knows and i did use fedora for a long time)
Worst: dyne:bolic, StartCom, Mandriva, Frugalware, or any other of the random names that you see on distrowatch.org

gflores

September 29th, 2005, 03:38 PM

BTW how do you spell G in Gentoo? G as in "good" or as "george"?

As in George. Gentoo is pronounced with a 'J' sound (Jentoo). It's named after the Gentoo Penguin, in case you didn't know.

NeoSNightmarE

September 29th, 2005, 03:50 PM

Best: Fedora. Simply because I like fedoras.
Weird: Whoppix
Worse:Linspire

Short and sweet list. :)

Edit: and that CensorNet distro is stupid and stands against all that GNU and *nix are. morons.

SamH

September 29th, 2005, 03:57 PM

I like TRS-DOS (the name, not the OS). I usually pronounced it "tres, dos" (the Spanish numbers 3 and 2) to myself. I don't think I ever heard anybody else say that, though! :)
Currently I like: Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, Rock, Lunar
Liked in the past: Mandrake
Can't stand: Mandriva, Linspire, Puppy (or maybe I just hate that tiny Chihuahua they use for their logo :mad:)

bored2k

September 29th, 2005, 04:05 PM

Favorites:
- Windows Longhorn/Vista (it is).
- Damn Small Linux
- Xandros (because it reminds me of "Enter Sandman")
- Mac OS X codename Jaguar

Least Favorites:
- Ubuntu Warty Warthog
- Windows ME
- Mepis

Brunellus

September 29th, 2005, 04:45 PM

Best: SLAX, DamnSmallLinux, Slackware
Worst: Mandriva. Reminds me of a shrewish old woman.

Prog

September 29th, 2005, 04:52 PM

Favorite: Unix, Solaris
Weird: Ubuntu
Least Favorite: DOS

Lovechild

September 29th, 2005, 04:56 PM

Good ones:
Foresight - vision, see tomorrow today
Fedora - it just sounds cool when you say it
OS/2 - because in denmark there was a great little book on OS/2 that used the pun that in danish OS/2 can be read as "The two of us" - always found that funny
Solaris - it sounds cool when you say it, I get the sense saying this word that Solaris is like ****** for my computer.. it will give it a big throbbing boner.. although if install lives for more than 6 hours seek medical attention.
Haiku - it's just begging for a description in haiku form.. so cool
Windows - Aside the version branding, Windows is a good name, symbolises transparency of technology - the OS sucks but the name rocks.

Bad ones:
Ubuntu - I never like that name it seems silly for no reason
KUbuntu - Common guys now you're reaching.. adding a K does not fix Ubuntu
SuSE - makes no sense
NLD - I never much favored putting Linux in the name just for the sake of it, and the corporate branding icks me out
RHEL - same as NLD
FreeBSD - BSD, not cool, putting free in the name, not cool either - two wrongs don't make a right
BeOS - how about trying with a different name, like assmonkeyOS it couldn't possibly sound sillier.
FreeDOS - DOS sucked, adding free doesn't fix it.
rPath - what does the r stand for.. and where does the path lead.. makes me think Deadend OS
Anything with the term OS in it - It's Fisher Price, the name is a brand it shouldn't convey the fact that we are talking about a concept that the average user can't grasp, that of an operating system.

drogoh

September 29th, 2005, 06:50 PM

Best. Name. Evar:
Red Hat 5.2 (Zoot) -- You can't tell me "Zoot" doesn't just rock your socks off.

Worst. Name. Evar:
FreeSBIE - It just reminds me of a pet name for FreeBSD people use to poke fun at it. (frisbee)

tageiru

September 29th, 2005, 07:27 PM

Well my favorites would probably be debian and ubuntu. Red hat is not that bad.

Worst is without question Frugalware, sounds disgusting! PCLinuxOS is quite horrible too. Anything with the PC acronym is banned from my computer.

transactionlogfiller

September 29th, 2005, 07:44 PM

I think the name Slackware rocks, not sure I like it as much now I know what it means though.

Most respectable sounding: Debian, Fedora Core, Gentoo, Solaris
Worst: Yellow Dog, Red Hat, Ubuntu

Best OS name ever: TOS [Atari ST, The Operating System :)]

mstlyevil

September 29th, 2005, 07:48 PM

I still like the simplicity of OS2.

matthew

September 29th, 2005, 11:17 PM

As in George. Gentoo is pronounced with a 'J' sound (Jentoo). It's named after the Gentoo Penguin, in case you didn't know.
Thought I would add, it is reported to be the fastest species of penguin...and Gentoo claims that because everything is compiled specifically on/for your computer it will run faster than any other version of Linux on your computer. YMMV, that's just the story.

BWF89

September 29th, 2005, 11:40 PM

Best: Solaris, Debian, Slackware, Scientific Linux, Plan 9, HP-UX
Worst: Ubuntu, Blag Linux, GoBo Linux
Weird: DeMuDi, HiWeed, BrickOS, LeJOS
Cool: Fedora Core, FreeBSD, Zen Linux, Morphix, FreeDOS, NetWare, Gentoo, Lunar Linux

brentoboy

September 29th, 2005, 11:47 PM

why wansnt Lindows named Lindoze

and if you have a name like mandrake, why would you change it to something as stupid as madriva?

Gentoo is awsome - name it after a real penguin species - that's clever.

ubuntu is bizzar

Suse is dumb - I honestly didnt but 4 or 5 years ago off the shelf at boarder's books because the name sucked - and it had a lizard not a penguin.

Slackware sounds cool - our server at the office was called "slacker" back when we had slackware runnin on the server. Everyone got a kick out of that.

Takis

September 30th, 2005, 12:04 AM

Best: Gentoo, not just because of the cool penguin, but because it sounds like 'Generation 2' - the next generation of Linux OSs, driving us through the new millenium with a feeling of confidence, connection and clarity.

Worst: Kubuntu - although I run it, breathe it and love it, nearly every time I mention it to someone, they end up saying gesundheit.

Weird: Linspire. I don't miss the point (Linux + inspire) but it just sounds really odd.

liquidtenmillion

September 30th, 2005, 02:53 AM

Good:

Mac OS - It tells you what it is, and what it runs on, very well named.
Unix - It just rolls of the tongue. Nice blend of a technical sounding name that's also easy to say and remember Maybe that's why there are so many clone's and spinoffs <_<
Solaris - Just sounds "cool" Telling my friends i use "Solaris" makes me sound more professional then saying i use "Ubuntu"

Bad:
Windows - I don't entirely understand how ms got this. Is the OS supposed to be a window to something? Why not a door? I guess Microsoft Doors would be even worse though <_<
DOS - Disk Operating system. It doesn't describe the product at all, they are all "disk operating systems"
OS/2 - What does it mean? Is it the 2nd operating system? Don't think so.
Unixware - Is there some other type of *ware i'm unaware of? My pc is composed of hardware, software, and apparently i need "unixware" to compute.
Hoary Hedgehog - When i'm done using my computer i don't know if i just collaborated with an old, wise hedgehog, or if i should pay for the services i just recieved. <_<

poofyhairguy

September 30th, 2005, 03:24 AM

Solaris.

TravisNewman

September 30th, 2005, 04:02 AM

Solaris. Hands down. Also the best programming environment ever. YMMV. That's just what I learned on, and I've never gotten compile time that quick since.

Worst would have to be Puppy. I don't know why, but it just irks me.

Qrk

September 30th, 2005, 04:08 AM

Solaris and Fedora

Fedora because it shows exactly what it is... Red Hat with a twist. Not only is it a good name, but it fits in with their company.

Solaris is lovely. I am a chemistry student, and the NMR machine I work on runs Solaris. Its an older version with CDE, but its a ton of fun taking an NMR; any Unix experience at work is a good day.

poofyhairguy

September 30th, 2005, 09:35 AM

Worst:

Windows Millenium Edition. Not only did the OS suck, but the name lied to you (it came out in 1999, not 2000).

benplaut

September 30th, 2005, 09:44 AM

most professional: Solaris
weirdest: dyne:bolic (wtf?!)
worst: Lormalinux (linux for your grandma Lorma?)
awesomest: Damn Small, Slackware, Vector, Kurumin, Aurux

KANOTIX goes in a few places, too ;-)

papangul

October 2nd, 2005, 12:30 PM

Favourite: Ubuntu, Gentoo, Haiku, DOS, Lunar, Gobo, GeeXboX, Ututo.

Hate : Puppy Linux, Fedora, Slackware, BSD, Lycoris, Vista, Kubuntu, Blag

darkmatter

October 2nd, 2005, 12:35 PM

alred

October 2nd, 2005, 01:03 PM

in decending order

most recent :: solaris , freebsd , lycoris , ubuntu , minix
previously :: redhat
once :: freedos(still around) , cpm86 (still around) , mac os 7 , oberon (still around , have to search for the hd) , various little os (forgotten about their name , some on emulations in dos , hd still lying around)

i guess no need to mention windows os , always there through time

dislike :: running out of hd or floppy disk , faulty floppy drives and leaking mb batteries ...

hate :: when people thought that i'm serious ...

papangul

October 2nd, 2005, 01:41 PM

@alred, are those your fav. OS's or fav. OS names?

Lovechild

October 2nd, 2005, 03:07 PM

I forgot about Chubby Puppy... which is just a disgusting distro name on the whole.

xequence

October 2nd, 2005, 08:18 PM

Ha, I like this thread :P

Good names: Fedora Core, Debian, Slackware
Not bad, not great: Suse, Ubuntu
Bad: PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, Lindows/Linspire, BIG LINUX

And in the windows world, vista is bad. XP is bad. 2000 is bad. ME is bad. 98 is bad. 95 is bad. On a better note, 3.11 kinda has a ring to it.

alred

October 2nd, 2005, 10:29 PM

QUOTE :: "by papangul
@alred, are those your fav. OS's or fav. OS names?"

hmm ... hard to say , sometimes you like something because of it name while sometimes you like the name because you like the thing firstly ... i guess no "pre-conditioning" is the best ... in fact by knowing what is the best is itself a "pre-conditioning" too ... what the heck ... just use and try them all if you can ...

forget to mention BeOS in my listing , thats a good one but i think palm os bought it or what ...
.

Gustav

December 13th, 2005, 05:09 PM

I like:

* Red Flag Linux (the socialist distro \\:D/ )
* Debian Sid (Woody is quite good as well :))
* Mandrake

earobinson

December 13th, 2005, 05:17 PM

fedora core, + the art was really nice :)

ow50

December 13th, 2005, 05:52 PM

Overall, most OS names are very unimaginative, unpronounceable and just plain horrible. I'd like to see less acronyms, less "OS" suffixes and less of the letter "X". Also, I'd prefer names that start with a capital letter and all following letters are uncapitalized.

Good

Ututo
Ubuntu
Commodore
Debian

Very Bad

Mandriva (a man driving?)
Foresight (fores...?)
Windows XP (what's XP?)