Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 23 Dec 2013 12:51:40 -0500 | From | Austin S Hemmelgarn <> | Subject | Re: Richard Stallman: Why “GNU’S Not Linux” and Why We Should “Say LiGNUx” |
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On 2013-12-23 12:01, Liam Lindholm wrote: > Dear fellow Linux kernel hackers: > > It has come to my attention that Richard M. Stallman, founder of the > Free Software Foundation and creator of the GNU project, has once > again set out to fragment our grassroots community. > > Recently, Mr. Stallman has started a new push for acknowledgement of > GNU in Linux. No, not the familiar “GNU/Linux” that we're all sick and > tired of hearing about but, instead, a failed anagram of these same > terms. The campaign is called “Say LiGNUx” and demands that users of > any Linux-kernel operating system employing GNU software (which > comprises less than 15% of most modern Linux distributions nowadays) > call the operating system “LiGNUx.” As much as I hate to point this out, that less than 15% comprises most of the big mainstream distros (eg, Suse, Red Hat, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, etc.). > > His presentation on the “Say LiGNUx” campaign is served in PNG format > at http://imgur.com/a/beY7E so you can see the insanity for yourself. [...snip...] > Mr. Stallman even suggests that users who refuse to say LiGNUx should > instead install GNU/HURD so as to remove any ambiguity about licenses > and nomenclature. What the hell?! I'd say that this is even stupider than the LiGNUx, Hurd only runs on 32-bit x86, doesn't support a large majority of modern hardware, and trying to install it is comparable to trying to get a rebate from Microsoft for not using a pre-installed copy of Windows. > > When is the last time someone named their operating system after the > license the kernel is released under? Such an esoteric naming method > is madness. Should Apple call OS X “Apple/XNU?” Or how about the > Berkeley operating systems? Should they call their products “FreeBSD” > or “OpenBSD?” Should Microsoft call their operating system “Microsoft > Windows?” The suggestion is patently absurd. > > We should not give in to the wailing demands of this zealotry. Mr. > Stallman clearly needs a break from promoting an increasingly > irrelevant software platform. Perhaps that means banning him from > LKML, or asking Linus to suggest some vacation therapy for poor Mr. > Stallman and his zealotry, or having the Linux Foundation issue a > press release distancing themselves from RMS, GNU, and the Free > Software Foundation. I'd personally say the press release is probably best. Mr. Stallman's zealotry makes all free software developers look bad, yet he dosen't seem to realize that.
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