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

[Steve Dobson]

Nic / Nico

On Sat, Feb 03, 2007 at 09:44:47AM +0000, Nic James Ferrier wrote:
> "Nico Kadel-Garcia" <nkadel at gmail.com> writes:
> > 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.

No, Linux is both the name of the kernel and the OS that runs on it.
It is because that is the way people use the word.

Note that google (small G) is now a verb meaning to search the Internet.
I've had conversations with Yanks that have laughed at me for using the
term "hover" when I mean vacuum cleaner and then go on to talk about
taking a "xerox".

English is a living language.  Words change their means all the time.
Back in the 1920s calling a man "gay" was not a comment on his sexual
orientation.  If you don't like the way English evolves then go speak
Latin.  That's a dead language, it hasn't changed much (if at all) in
a couple of hundred years or so.

> 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.

I disagree.  While a Gnome or KDE use may not be using the GNU tool set
much directly the scrips that boot the computer and start the graphical
environment up make have use of them.

> 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.

The move to the web is just another form of centralised computing.  
Computing culture runs in cycles sometimes favouring centralisation (of
which the web is just one form) or individual computing.  Both have their
advantages and disadvantages.  If you want to get the best out of computing
then you need to use both.

Steve
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