Stallman and GNU/Linux, was Re: [Sussex] BBC Video Downloads

[Nic James Ferrier]

"Nico Kadel-Garcia" <nkadel at gmail.com> writes:

> What? It's not petty on his part. He's got a real point. 

I'm glad that you're not trying to denigrate Stallman. It sounded to
me like you were.

If he thought what you said, I would say that it was petty. But he
doesn't think that.


> Please read http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html, which matches
> what Richard says about it iin private as well as in public. The FSF
> successfully built up most of an open-source OS using GNU tools:
> they only lacked the kernel. The HURD kernel never worked reliably
> until well after the Linux kernel was out there and a major
> component of many different operating system distributions. The
> result is that people talk about Linux as an operating system and
> the GNU basis for it is ignored, along with

The page you refer to is not an expression of Stallman's anger that
Linux stole the thunder of Hurd. Stallman was pleased by Linux, as he
is pleased by any software that is GPLed.

The decision of the GNU project to adopt Linux as an alternative
kernel was a difficult one that everyone knew would effectively
sideline the Hurd for years, if not forever. But Stallman took the
decision because it was the right one.

I don't think there was any concern about himself being
sidelined. When I've been in conversations with him I've seen him get
most cross about people describing Linux as an operating system, which
it is not, it's a kernel. Unfortunately, people persist in that
delusion. I suspect that most LUGs should really be called GUGs for
example.

Many people maintain that this is a falsehood. That measured in many
different ways the GNU contribution is large but not overarching. If
you use KDE and not GNOME for example, the amount of GNU software on
your system is relatively small.

As people move towards the web and away from traditional computing
models the GNU OS becomes less and less relevant. Some people suggest
that this is a failure on Stallman's part. But the idea of free
software and ALL the existing free code we have to play with and
extend is the real achievement of Richard Stallman, and it's a massive
achievement.


> Heck, you should have sene Richard at the presentation about Palladium,
> later renamed Trusted Computing. I have stories about that: Richard was at
> his best, correctly shredding the presenter's glowing presentation and
> pointing out its real purposes for DRM.

Richard is always interesting to see. I'd urge anyone who gets the
chance to try and catch a performance. He comes over here a lot.

-- 
Nic Ferrier
http://www.tapsellferrier.co.uk   for all your tapsell ferrier needs