Perl is Alive!

[Nigel Hamilton]

>
> Ruby is not bullshitting anyone, they're not making any unsubstantiated
> claims as far as I can see. They're being passionate and showing how they're
> using their language to solve real problems. Sure, we might think that perl
> can do it better but we're crap at getting other people to see it.
>

Branding is important for idea packaging and transmission. A brand
simplifies sending a message and in these agile, ajaxian times where people
are suffering from attention poverty Perl needs a way of attractively
packaging some of its more hairy messages.

I'm really glad to see Perl6's branding strategy in action. It's a great
idea to make Perl the umbrella brand as it gives room for sub-brands to
grow: rakudo, pugs, elf, (smop - needs one) etc. and it also hedges risk.

Just look at the way the Apache and the Mozilla foundation manage branding.
There is a clear umbrella mark (the feather, mozilla) but there's room for
complimentary sub-brands (lucene, firefox respectively). So I think the Perl
foundation is on the right track with Perl(R).

Although I think there are two further things that would help:

* A Larry-approved strapline for Perl - what is it? why should I use it?
what itch does it scratch?
* An assignment of "perl.com" back to the Perl Foundation [1]

Nige

[1] for the ORA lovers and authors on the list - it could still be licensed
back to ORA for use in perl.com but the rightful owner is still the Perl
Foundation