The word "war" might be an overstatement, but so is the conflict with GIF

May 22, 2013 21:51 GMT  ·  By

Most Linux users are familiar with the Enlightenment desktop environment, but most people don’t know about the conflict between users who say GIF with a soft “j” and the rest of the world. The two aspects are closely related.

It’s not every day that someone has the courage to speak up about this really big problem, the pronunciation of the word GIF (Graphics Interchange Format).

The creator of the GIF format, Steve Wilhite, has put an end to this debate when he explained GIF should be pronounced with a J and not with a G.

The release manager of E18 has a different opinion about this matter and has assured users that they will not have to choose.

“To that end, I am officially stating, on record, that the EFL and E18 will not require its developers or users to pronounce GIF with a flimsy, soft ‘j’ sound.

“Enlightenment has always been about choice, and I respect Mr. Wilhite’s choice to be retroactively wrong about the pronunciation of the name of something which he himself invented,” the release manager of E18 stated.

With this important aspect in mind, we will wait for the next installment of Enlightenment.