We have moved to a new Sailfish OS Forum. Please start new discussions there.
2

Akward question about Sailfish as name for an OS

asked 2018-01-23 03:06:51 +0300

this post is marked as community wiki

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

updated 2018-01-23 15:01:06 +0300

jiit gravatar image

Sorry if my question is offtopic enough to the forum purpose, but, did u ever asked yourself why did Jolla named their fork of Meego as "Sailfish"? Is it cause the Sailfish is considered one of fastest fishs? Theres any cultural relation to Finland or something related to their roots?

edit retag flag offensive close delete

Comments

1

regarding this i asked myself how other companies with mobile os and actually names that are nowwhere nearly related got their names from. so the burning platform referekce seems to me no further away than visiting a fruit farm for inspiration.

kaktux ( 2018-01-24 10:36:14 +0300 )edit

Whatever the actual reason, the word 'sailfish' itself sounds like a fish swimming through, or a sailboat sailing on top of water, fast, smooth, slick. Not a bad way to implant the idea the OS is fast, smooth and slick (luckily, the idea also happens to be true).

nthn ( 2018-01-26 00:55:01 +0300 )edit

3 Answers

Sort by » oldest newest most voted
5

answered 2018-01-23 16:22:32 +0300

vattuvarg gravatar image

Sailfish OS is based on mer. Mer is an abbreviation of meego restructured.The word mer also means ocean or sea in french. So the name of a fish seems logical.

edit flag offensive delete publish link more

Comments

I think it's the other way round: the name 'mer' was chosen to fit with the sea context.

Giacomo Di Giacomo ( 2018-01-23 17:18:15 +0300 )edit
2

Mer existed in 2011. Jolla didn't.

vattuvarg ( 2018-01-23 17:32:22 +0300 )edit
4

Actually, Mer started off as Maemo Reconstructed. This thread is the oldest a quick search returned:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=29258

While the thread was started in 2009, the presentation the first post links to suggests the project started in October 2008.

ossi1967 ( 2018-01-23 18:29:46 +0300 )edit

@ossi1967 - Development fizzled out and then almost as quietly was reborn, afaik.

vattuvarg ( 2018-01-25 15:09:26 +0300 )edit
3

answered 2018-01-23 08:26:28 +0300

ossi1967 gravatar image

I don't know for sure (actually, I don't know at all, I'm guessing), but I've always considered Sailfish a continuation of the name "Jolla" (=boat), referring to this kind of sailfish

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailfish_(sailboat)

rather than the real fish.

edit flag offensive delete publish link more

Comments

2

The logo is the fish, not a boat. So (at least for me) this doesn't sound like intended, but just a coincidence.

naytsyrhc ( 2018-01-24 09:20:13 +0300 )edit

@naytsyrhc A logo is just the work of so-called 'creative people'. It doesn't necessarily have any meaning. Also, the logo for the sailboat itself is the fish, not something you'd associate with a boat or with sailing...

ossi1967 ( 2018-01-24 09:48:54 +0300 )edit

@ossi1967 of course I know that. Anyway, it's just a personal feeling/thought. What really somehow bothers me though is, that phonetically Sailfish is very close to (if not to say the same as) selfish. So, is that supposed to have a meaning? ;-)

naytsyrhc ( 2018-01-24 10:34:02 +0300 )edit

@naytsyrhc You're so right! I always laughed when I heard one of the Jolla-guys say "selfish OS" in a video.

ossi1967 ( 2018-01-24 12:56:16 +0300 )edit

I doubt if there was a sailfish 'sailboat' in Europe, let alone Finland. So unless it was named by an Australian I doubt it. I've seen a few of the later Sunfishes (in UK English we'd call it a dinghy or a 'sailing boat' - we don't use the word 'sailboat') but but they're uncommon. The Topper dominated the UK market.

BTW - what is the word 'akward' in the title. If 'awkward', why?

DaveRo ( 2018-01-26 09:16:47 +0300 )edit
1

answered 2018-01-23 11:03:18 +0300

Giacomo Di Giacomo gravatar image

It's a joke about the infamous burning platform memo by Stephen Elop. The Jolla was the escape from the burning platform and I guess that the first idea was for the boat's sail but "Sail OS" sounded too short.

edit flag offensive delete publish link more
Login/Signup to Answer

Question tools

Follow
3 followers

Stats

Asked: 2018-01-23 03:06:51 +0300

Seen: 1,128 times

Last updated: Jan 23 '18