Re: Use of the name 'Linux' to refer to GNU/Linux



Quim Gil wrote:
> We are working hard in order to have a revamped wgo by the GNOME 2.18
> release. Would you mind waiting until the new site is out? This
> problem will be fixed there. Personally I putting all my time in the
> wgo revamp and I haven't touched the current cvs/svn based wgo since
> ages.
> 
> Thank you for your understanding.
> 
> On 2/24/07, Guy Johnston <guydjohnston googlemail com> wrote:
>> Vincent Untz wrote:
>> > Hi Guy,
>> >
>> > Le dimanche 11 février 2007, à 21:13, Guy Johnston a écrit :
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> I've noticed on the home page of the GNOME site, that it reads "GNOME
>> >> offers an easy to understand desktop for your Linux or UNIX computer."
>> >> The use of the name 'Linux' here is clearly referring to the whole
>> >> GNU/Linux operating system, rather than just the Linux kernel. As the
>> >> GNOME project is committed to the goals of the free software movement,
>> >> and is part of the GNU project (as far as I know), I'd have thought
>> the
>> >> project leaders would prefer to use the name 'GNU/Linux' for the
>> system,
>> >> to properly reflect how important the roles of the GNU project and the
>> >> ideals of free software are for the development of this operating
>> >> system, which I assume is the most common operating system GNOME is
>> used
>> >> with. Therefore, please considering changing this reference to read
>> >> 'GNU/Linux' instead of 'Linux'.
>> >
>> > We already agreed on this a few months ago:
>> >
>> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2006-October/msg00022.html
>> >
>> > We only need someone to actually do it, so I'll cc gnome-web-list.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Vincent
>> >
>>
>> Hi, is this being fixed? I've noticed that this still seems to be a
>> problem.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Guy
>> -- 
>> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/board-list
>>
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> 
> 

OK that sounds good.

As a different point, I'm often surprised by how many people don't know
that the GNOME project is part of the GNU project (I didn't know that
when I first
started using GNU/Linux). I've seen GNOME used a few times in a common
argument against the use of the name 'GNU/Linux', that there's so many
projects that have contributed to the system that GNU doesn't deserve a
mention in the name (seemingly regardless of the fact that it's the main
contribution). GNOME is sometimes cited in that argument as one of the major
contributions to "Linux" which "isn't anything to do with GNU". To stop
as many people making that mistake, I'd also like it if the relationship
between GNOME and GNU was made more clear on the website.

I think that both that suggested change and the use of the name
'GNU/Linux' should
be helpful to GNU and the free software movement, even if
only very slightly, particularly as GNOME is the default desktop for what
seems to be the most popular GNU/Linux distribution at the moment
(Ubuntu). I think that's important, as they seem to be getting pushed
further and further into obscurity by the open source movement. New
users of "Linux" often seem to be surprised and critical when we start
talking about how their operating system relates to freedom, and
something called GNU which they haven't heard of. The GPL is
talked about a fair bit in the mainstream technology media nowadays, but
even that's usually called an 'open source licence'. The ideals of
software freedom which created it are rarely mentioned, even though its
preamble discusses them quite thoroughly.

Thanks,

Guy




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