Re: forwarded message from Richard Stallman

["James M. Cape" <jcape jcinteractive com>]

Richard Stallman wrote:
> 
>     Certainly Richard Stallman and the rest of the contributors of the GNU
>     Project deserve credit for their enormous work, but I imagine at this
>     point it's probably a little too late in the game for a change of this
>     magnitude.
> 
> Many people have told me that it is "impossible to change" this, and
> advised me to give up.  I didn't listen, and that's good, because this
> campaign is succeeding somewhat--some people now do say "GNU/Linux".
> Recently this term has appeared in the New York Times and the Boston
> Globe.  I don't expect to convince *everyone* to use the term, but
> each person who does so helps to clear up the usual confusion.
> 
> If you recognize that the name GNU/Linux is more appropriate, you too
> can use it.  No one can stop you.
> 
>      Regardless, most of us who've been in this business any time
>     have been well aware that GNU formed a major portion of Linux
> 
> We have not developed any part of Linux.  We developed the larger GNU
> operating system, in which Linux is typically used.
> 
>      It's sad now that anyone would make an effort to add further
>     dividing lines
> 
> I hope this isn't meant to apply to me.  If it is, it is a
> misunderstanding.  I am asking people to give the GNU Project credit
> for developing the GNU operating system, by mentioning "GNU" in the
> system's name.  There's no dividing line here.
> 
>     This apparent drive toward demanding credit brings
>     that aspiration into question and certainly demeans any air of
>     selflessness.
> 
> I can see how it might look that way, if you're assuming that the
> issue is just about ego.  If only ego were at stake, I would agree that
> the issue was not very important.
> 
> But something much more important is at stake: whether the GNU Project
> can spread the idealistic philosophy which brought the GNU/Linux
> system into existene in the first place.
> 
> The name of Linux has become associated with the apolitical philosophy
> of Linus and the Open Source movement.  Most fans of the GNU/Linux
> system don't know that our idealism created the system they love.  We
> want them to know this, so that they won't dismiss our idealism as
> "impracticable".  We have to make sure they know where the system
> really came from.
> 
>     I think it's a foolish to assume that any of us out here
>     didn't realize how great Richard's group's contribution really was.
> 
> Based on my experience, I would bet that many people on these lists
> think they know, but what they heard is just part of it.  Probably
> many think that "GNU developed tools that are used in Linux."  That's
> quite an understatement.
> 
> But even if everyone on these lists does know the situation, most
> reporters don't.  Nowadays, when they write stories about the GNU
> system, they usually call it "Linux", they usually don't know we had
> anything to do with it, and they usually don't even talk to us.
> 
>     I also think the Linux industry making an effort to credit the GNU
>     Project would be well spent as well as perhaps even companies such as
> 
> My experience has been that consistently using the name "GNU/Linux"
> informs people better than ten minutes of detailed explanation.
> 
> A few years ago, I talked with people about their efforts to explain
> the situation without using that term, and what results they got.  The
> message was going in one ear and out the other.
> 
> Looking at what was happening, I concluded that the reason for this
> was that calling the system "Linux" implies that anything named "GNU"
> could only have had a secondary role in developing the system.  Once
> people form that conceptual structure, if you try to tell them that
> the system's principal developer was the GNU Project, you are trying
> to change the structure.  They tend to assume you don't really mean
> what you're saying, because the truth just "couldn't be true".
> 
>     However I do object to a "demand" as opposed to a request
> 
> I don't know of anyone who is trying to force you to write
> "GNU/Linux", so that is just a hypothetical issue.  The real issue is
> that writing GNU/Linux is the right thing to do.
> 
> Please see http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html for more
> explanation.

Please move this off-topic discussion to a relevant forum, GNOME has
nothing to do with it.

    Jim Cape
    http://www.jcinteractive.com

    "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them
     pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
        -- Winston Churchill