Re: FSF, terminology, and marketing

[Stone Mirror <stonemirror shugendo org>]

I'm looking askance at this. I find the arguments in favor of "GNU/ 
Linux" to be specious: if you examine the makeup of early Linux  
distros, following the FSF's reasoning would obligate one to call it  
"X/GNU/Linux", at least. Further, I'm troubled at the idea that we'd  
attempt to conform to FSF ideas on terms like "intellectual property"  
and "open source".

Few distros refer to themselves as "GNU/Linux", and the mainstream  
media never uses the term. It's unclear to me, with the numerous other  
things we could be usefully doing, why we'd choose to spend energy on  
a, frankly quixotic, "terminology crusade".

Shall we advise folks to avoid buying Harry Potter books as well?

__
Sent from my Steve-Phone

On Sep 19, 2009, at 11:14 AM, Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>  
wrote:

> Paul:
>
> > Claus, thanks for the email, and your quotes from Miguel are helpful.
> > I think you bring up a good point as we are mostly, with the  
> > exception of Stormy and Rosanna, a volunteer staff.
>
> True.  Perhaps, the GNOME community can recommend terminology for
> volunteers and/or help explain the reasoning behind the word choices  
> so
> we make sure that volunteers are educated and can decide for  
> themselves.
> However, it may be inappropriate to try and dictate which term any
> volunteer should use.
>
> A more thorny issue is what language should be used by the Foundation
> board of directors and those employees of the Foundation.  Those
> people represent the GNOME community and we really need help from the
> community to ensure that we use the language that the community would
> prefer that we use.  Since many of the documents that board members
> and employees contribute to are marketing-related, it is also useful
> to get the perspective of the marketing team.
>
> While many of the responses have been rather ambivalent and leaning
> against the term "GNU/Linux", I think we also need to consider whether
> there are any contexts where using the FSF recommended terminology is
> appropriate.  For example, if we do a press release about something
> directly related to the FSF, then perhaps it does make sense to make
> more of an effort to use the terminology they recommend.
>
> Or do we feel so strongly against using their terminology that we  
> think
> that is a bad idea to use "GNU/Linux" in any context?
>
> > Brian - do we have a list of terminology the FSF would prefer us to  
> > use other than "free software" and "GNU/Linux"?
>
> That is a really good question.  As we all know, terms like "free
> software" and "open software" are confusing since words like "free"
> and "open" have many meanings.  The FSF does feel that language is  
> very
> important and that it is important to be careful to use the best  
> words.
>
> Here is an essay that Richard Stallman wrote to provide guidance on
> this topic:
>
>  http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html
>
> I would think it would make good sense for anybody involved with free
> software, and especially those on the marketing team, to be (at the
> very least) aware and familiar with this information.  If the GNOME
> community uses terminology that the FSF finds disagreeable, we should
> probably not do so out of ignorance.
>
> > Taking a step back and thinking about this, if we were creating a  
> > style guide for our volunteers, what would some of that terminology  
> > be?  I don't think this email thread needs to turn into style guide  
> > requirements, but it might be helpful to understand what the FSF is  
> > asking for.
>
> I am not sure that we need a style guide, but it would perhaps be  
> useful
> to know if the GNOME community endorses these sorts of FSF
> recommendations, and to what degree.  Then, at least, we know what we
> agree and disagree about.
>
> Brian
> --
> marketing-list mailing list
> marketing-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list