Ubuntu 12.04 will not be a Perky Penguin

From the ‘Missed Opportunities‘ files:

Every six months or so, Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth comes up with some kind of wacky animal name for the next version of Ubuntu.

The upcoming release is the Oneiric Ocelot due out on Monday, meaning the next release should start with the letter ‘P’.

It had to be a penguin right?

I mean come on, so many letters, so many animals from jackalopes, hedgehogs and finally with the letter P – Shuttleworth could finally choose a penguin.

“I also like punchy and perky (the Perky Penguin is a nice nostalgic option) and persistent (better than permanent, peerless or penultimate) and playful and plucky and poised,” Shuttleworth blogged. “Others like prescient and peaceable and pervasive (!) and pivotal. Pukka rings a nice old-world bell, but it’s possibly pejorative.”

Instead of the penguin, Shuttleworth chose a:

Pangolin.

A Precise Pangolin – to be, well precise.

Apparently a Pangolin is tough animal that can survive an encounter with a lion.

“There’s no sassier character, and no more cheerful digger, anywhere in those desert plains,” Shuttleworth said.

I can’t verify that claim myself, seeing as I’ve never heard the word Pangolin before today. Sure it fits with Ubuntu’s overall nature, but it would have been nice if they could be on the same side as the rest of the Linux community, in their love of the Penguin.