Some conclusions were being drawn and discussed last night on the elementary G+ community page, when Daniel Fore posted a response to a comment on this journal post.
Later that night, Cody Garver pushed a new revision to a branch called lp:~codygarver/elementaryos/syslinux-theme-freya. The comment for the revision was:
“Rename Isis to Freya”. Discussions exploded.
Then the elementary team officially announced on their website and in a G+ post , that they are changing the name of their next release to Freya (previously known as Isis). The reason for this is the name of an active militant group in the Middle East, known in English as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – abbreviated as ISIS .
“We’ve been hard at work on the next version of elementary OS, until now codenamed Isis. Today we’re announcing the new codename: elementary OS Freya.”
The elementary team explained further, why they are changing the name:
“elementary obviously has no ties to that group—and we don’t think people will get us confused—but we want to both recognize the ongoing turmoil and choose a less controversial name.”
One of the team’s goals is to design beautiful user experiences. The name of the goddess seems to fit very well.
“Freya is a Norse goddess of love and beauty. As we push our design forward, a goddess associated with beauty makes a lot of sense. And evoking the powerful emotion of love is always a good thing! “
While many were happy with the change, some didn’t take the change positively. There were mixed reactions from the community. This post on the official elementary Google Plus community page contains a long discussion regarding the name change. Some very good opinions were given, but this one stands out:
“It’s probably a difference of opinion and culture so there’s no right answer for this, but I’ll have to disagree with you, and you’re free to disagree with me (free speech and all).
– The OS itself is called “elementary OS Isis”, and not “Isis OS”, or “Isis” or “ISIS”. Seriously, how can there be any confusion or association?
– Forget elementary OS. There are several physical organisations actually called ISIS, such as the Institute for Science and International Security. There’s even a group called the ISIS Group, and they don’t even have a acronym and even credit their name to the Egyptian lore ( http://www.isisgroup.org/). These groups are all mostly non-profit organisations as well (like the elementary team) – do you really expect them to change their names as well? Or how about +ISIS Training, I suppose people will mistake them for a terrorist boot camp, right? Oh and guess what, there are even people are called Isis. I suppose they should all change their names so as to not offend anyone.
– Even if someone Googles ISIS and comes across elementary OS, surely you don’t think they’ll be thinking “Oh look, the terrorist group is offering a free Linux based open-source operating system for download! And it’s in English too!”
While others countered –
“I look at it in a rather pragmatic way, the Elementary Team knows people like to tag stuff and search stuff using simple terms. So they prevent confusion or mashed up search results before it happens.
So this isn’t “giving in to terrorism”, it’s simply making sure that looking for #freya will present me with proper results. #freyaFTW“
Like it or not, at the end of the day, there’s no harm in playing safe .And the new name….it….it….its kinda COOL! Let us know you’re reaction in the comments below or in the forum.
they did well… and i agree it’s really better to play itself… it is one thing to have the same name as a nefarious organisation in the tv series archer but to have the same name as this one… that’s too much to handle!