Re: Changing "Linux" with "GNU/Linux" or "GNU"

[Joachim Noreiko <jnoreiko yahoo com>]

--- Yavor Doganov <yavor doganov org> wrote:
> There was some discussion within the Bulgarian
> Translation Team
> regarding the substitution of "Linux" with
> "GNU/Linux" when the string
> refers to the operating system, and not the kernel.

When we refer to the operating system, we usually say
'GNOME'. That is what the user interacts with -- for
the average user, the desktop *is* the computer.

GNOME is in the awkward position of being a
middle-man: we're caught on one side by problems in X
(such as legacy issues) and hardware support, and on
the other side we have no idea what distros will do
with what we release.

I suspect that there are very few mentions of 'linux'
in the whole of GNOME documentation, because we can't
know what we'll actually be running on (even though
it's a safe bet).

I agree that it's important to be precise, especially
in documentation. If there's potential for confusion
with the term 'linux', then it should be cleared up.

(However, I can't help thinking the boat's sailed on
this one. Everybody says linux, and pushing another
term on people feels somewhat Canute-like -- to mix
ocean-based metaphors -- especially when 'linux' is a
snappy and catchy word, while 'GNU' is ugly, hard to
pronounce, and is only pretending to be an acronym.)

So I'm sort of on the fence, in that documentation
should use terms users are familiar with, but if we
can quietly use more precise and correct language
without appearing to bash people over the heads, we
should [1].

By the way, the new version of the GNOME User Guide
has a section on contributing to GNOME. I don't
remember if I wrote much about the ideals and goals of
free software, but if you want to contribute a few
lines, please do. There aren't many places in docs for
banner-waving, but that one is.

Joachim

PS...
[1] How about a few more people get behind my
(windmill-tilting) campaign to get developers to stop
saying 'capplet' and say 'preference tool' or
'preftool' at least? The term 'capplet' is never used
in the interface or documentation, and it creates a
needless barrier between users and developers.


		
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