Rick wrote:
> An interesting blog entry, and no, I probably won't be calling it GNU
> Linux much, although I do agree with much that is said in the blog.
>
> I’ll be calling it GNU/Linux for now on.
> <http://dthomasdigital.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/ill-be-calling-it-
> gnulinux-for-now-on/>
>
It's somewhat of a myopic vision though.
If you ask someone from Bell Labs or Berkeley Unix, about GNU or Linux, they
would probably wonder why GNU should have any more credit than Linus
Torvalds, when in fact most of these patterns have been created, improved,
and researched by people at Bell Labs and throughout the world.
Stephen C. Johnson was heavily involved with the creation of Yacc, should we
call it Johnson/GNU/Bison instead of just Bison? Bison would probably not
exist were it not for Johnson. We also find that Johnson was inspired by
Knuth's writings as well at some level, so should it be:
Knuth/Johnson/GNU/Bison?
Find your own truth:
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/252319/-z_programming_languages_yacc
"Given GNU's desire to replicate Unix, I think Bison was inevitable. I am
bemused that some GNU people are so irritated that GNU's contribution to
Linux is not recognized, but yet they have failed to recognize their debt to
those of us who worked on Unix..." -- Stephen C. Johnson
Richard Stallman from one perception wants to give people freedom, but as
with anyone else, he does what he does for himself. He encourages people to
sign over their rights to the Free Software Foundation, and to discourage
other licenses. That is fine for him, but there are other people with
different understandings, and his behavior, arrogance, and myopic vision
does not unite all people, instead he divides people. On the other hand, I
understand that he is doing what he thinks is best for himself, with his
experiences, and understanding.
Years ago I was getting started with Linux, and more serious programming. I
was fascinated by GNU, and at the time I was a GPL promoter. I believed in
sharing code, and information. That was a good intent, but there are also
other views of the GNU project. Richard Stallman has at times called people
parasites, and he has harassed people in public. I was somewhat concerned
about the different views I saw of him, and some of his writings, so I
emailed him to gain a bit more understanding years ago. He was nice to me,
but he was also in hindsight (after reading more of his writings over the
last 12 years or so) finding a truth that I can not agree with at this
point. I don't blame Richard Stallman, or his followers, but there are
other views, and often those with different views do what they do for
reasons that they consider best for themselves and others. Richard is not
working towards mutual understanding from what I see these days, it appears
to me he is working towards division. When Richard was given the genius
grant, it did not mean he would cease to suffer, or cease to have a reason
to learn, as anyone would, but I fear the greatest personal failure of
Richard may be his success which reinforces what I consider to be unhelpful
to him as a being.
-George
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