____/ Mark Kent on Monday 29 October 2007 08:11 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> ____/ [H]omer on Saturday 27 October 2007 23:13 : \____
>>
>>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>>
>>>> The Perfect Crime
>>>
>>> I must say I'm surprised to see you cite an article like this. I can
>>> only assume you meant it as a talking point.
>>>
>>> The "variants" that the author can't seem to find are GNU/Hurd and
>>> GNU/BSD, both of which are available as Debian systems:
>>>
>>> http://www.debian.org/ports/#nonlinux
>>>
>>> Which of course makes the point that Linux (the kernel) is not exactly
>>> irreplaceable in the GNU system.
>>>
>>> As to the assertion that Stallman hijacked the Linux name, it is IMHO
>>> quite the opposite, as I've stated before. Linux is a kernel, that's
>>> all. GNU comprises most of the rest of the core components that make a
>>> system actually usable. For someone to describe e.g. Ubuntu as a "Linux
>>> distro" is to ignore attribution of a huge proportion of the core
>>> system. One might just as easily call it "Ubuntu Gnome" or "Ubuntu KDE",
>>> as "Ubuntu Linux".
>>>
>>> The whole point of the name "GNU/Linux" is respectful attribution of the
>>> primary components that comprise the actual operating system environment
>>> ... not some /hijacking/ attempt. It seems that the author not only
>>> lacks common sense, but good manners as well.
>>
>> Yes, I saw what I cited (didn't read the /whole/ thing) and thought the same
>> thing. GNU makes up 15% of Debian, IIRC, whereas Linux is just 3% (in terms
>> of LOCs). It's amazing that only a tiny fragment of the O/S often gets all
>> the credit. In the case of Ubuntu (and many users don't even know it's
>> Linux), it's the wrapper that gets all the credit. Very few Ubuntu users
>> know about the roots in Debian.
>>
>
> This is the whole issue around credit, unfortunately. Everyone will
> always want to get the credit for their own piece, naturally, but the
> public at large really don't care a great deal for such things - they
> want their celebrities to be wrapped, packaged and delivered by tabloid
> newspaper, glossy magazine and trash-television programming.
>
> I would point out that although the GNU parts of the OS are not that
> huge, glibc and gcc are linked to and compiled with by probably 75% or
> more of every package in any major distribution. This includes the
> kernel, of course.
>
> I have great sympathy with Richard Stallman wanting the term GNU/Linux
> to be adopted for distributions. He's never attempted to take the
> credit for the kernel, although many people have accused him of such,
> in an effort to damage his credibility.
>
> Still, we have many such people here, even a large number of people who
> would claim to be on-topic posters, who seem to believe that if they
> repeat the same maltruths over and over, they will magically become
> true.
Yesterday I watched this 1-hour TV program (not Revolution OS) and it contained
some good bits on credit and the way GNU and Linux are connected.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498228245415745977&hl=en
Recommended!
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Rid your machine from malware. Install GNU/Linux.
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Tasks: 116 total, 1 running, 115 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
http://iuron.com - knowledge engine, not a search engine
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