[GNUz] GNU/Linux ...

[Timothy Musson]

InfoHelp, 2004-07-03 21:07:33:
> On Sat, 2004-07-03 at 15:46, Timothy Musson wrote:
> > My take on the naming thing is that, if it hadn't been for the name
> > "Debian GNU/Linux", I might not have "noticed" the GNU Project so
> > soon, or realised that they were important. It would've taken me
> > longer to understand that Free doesn't mean gratis.

> [...] You seem to be reading the formulation "GNU/Linux" as a tainted
> GNU, or a conditioned "Linux", where it's better read as an alliance.

I don't feel that GNU/Linux is a tainted GNU. In fact, Linux's GNU
General Public License tells me that Linux embodies GNU philosophy every
bit as much as, say, gcc does :)

As for the GNU/* naming convention...

I believe it helps people find out about the GNU project, and then - if
they're interested - the philosophy behind it. There are other reasons
as well, but that's the one that makes _me_ bother.

(Having said that, I find it really uncomfortable to _say_ GNU/Linux,
and usually don't. But I always do bother when I'm _writing_, since in
writing it's not clumsy at all.)


Tim
-- 
Timothy Musson  -  trmusson@ihug.co.nz
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~trmusson/