The 19th century illustrations that O’Reilly use for the book covers give a sense of identity and branding that is known throughout the computer industry. Since most subjects aren’t associated with animals, the books themselves have frequently created mascots, such as the camel for Perl. In the cases where there’s an obvious choice, such as Python, the cover usually is what you’d expect. So the use of horses for Linux titles is a bit bizarre, to put it mildly. Now you know why, arctic habitat ain’t cheap.

Yet another week without Linux news, I’m still recovering from vacation and promise to have my act back together next week!