Have a mint … or three
When will people start thinking up something original instead of stealing others' ideas?
Posted on 2007-10-25 09:10 by Jørn Støylen [permalink]
First, there was Mint, Shaun Inman’s web statistics package. Then there was Mint, online money management software. Which I guess is okay, since it’s a whole other thing, and it’s quite different except for being just as green. Well, actually the latter has quite a bit more green.
But then there’s Linux Mint, which is a whole lot closer to plagiarizing Inman’s Mint. The logo is very similar in shape and color, and the overall color scheme is pretty much identical, both the green and the dark gray.
It’s okay to be inspired by someone else’s design, but try and be a little original, why don’t you? Don’t steal both the name and the design.
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I have to admit that it is strange and very similar, but whether it is similar enough to outright accuse anyone of plagiarism, I don’t know. Mint, the money making program seems to only share the name and Linux Mint, though bearing a much close resemblance, still has some important differences.
My question to both parties though is why name your product something for which another well-known product is already named. That seems like a marking blunder only a fool would make.
If you told me you were using Mint to manage your money, I probably would think you’re crazy. The same goes for using Mint Linux, I thought it had something to do with Web servers on first read.
I don’t see this hurting the original Mint much, not yet at least, but it could wind up hurting the new guys.
Confusion is never good for business.