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-<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.
-
-Free Software Foundation
-
-51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
-
-Boston, MA 02110-1335
-Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted
-worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is
-preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations
-of this book from the original English into another language provided
-the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and
-the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all
-copies.
-
-ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9
-Cover design by Rob Myers.
-
-Cover photograph by Peter Hinely.
- -->
-
-
- <a name="What_0027s-in-a-Name_003f">
- </a>
- <h1 class="chapter">
- 12. What’s in a Name?
- </h1>
- <a name="index-nonfree-software_002c-insidious-and-nefarious-addition-of">
- </a>
- <a name="index-terminology_002c-importance-of-using-correct-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Project-5">
- </a>
- <a name="index-_0060_0060Linux_002c_0027_0027-erroneous-use-of-term-_0028see-also-open-source_0029-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU_002fLinux-v_002e-_0060_0060Linux_0027_0027-_0028see-also-both-open-source-and-terminology_0029">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002fLinux-v_002e-_0060_0060Linux_0027_0027-_0028see-also-both-open-source-and-terminology_0029">
- </a>
- <p>
- Names convey meanings; our choice of names determines the meaning of
-what we say. An inappropriate name gives people the wrong idea. A
-rose by any other name would smell as sweet—but if you call it a pen,
-people will be rather disappointed when they try to write with it.
-And if you call pens “roses,” people may not realize what
-they are good for. If you call our operating system
-Linux, that conveys a mistaken idea of the system’s
-origin, history, and purpose. If you call
-it GNU/Linux, that conveys (though not in detail) an accurate idea.
- </p>
- <p>
- Does this really matter for our community? Is it important whether people
-know the system’s origin, history, and purpose? Yes—because people
-who forget history are often condemned to repeat it. The Free World
-that has developed around GNU/Linux
-is not guaranteed to survive; the problems that
-led us to develop GNU are not completely eradicated, and they threaten
-to come back.
- </p>
- <p>
- When I explain why it’s appropriate to call the operating system
-GNU/Linux rather than Linux, people
-sometimes respond this way:
- </p>
- <blockquote class="smallquotation">
- <p>
- Granted that the GNU Project deserves credit for this work, is
- it really worth a fuss when people don’t give credit? Isn’t the
- important thing that the job was done, not who did it? You
- ought to relax, take pride in the job well done, and not worry
- about the credit.
- </p>
- </blockquote>
- <p>
- This would be wise advice, if only the situation were like that—if
-the job were done and it were time to relax. If only that were true!
-But challenges abound, and this is no time to take the future for
-granted. Our community’s strength rests on commitment to freedom and
-cooperation. Using the name GNU/Linux is a way for people to remind
-themselves and inform others of these goals.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is possible to write good free software without thinking of GNU;
-much good work has been done in the name of Linux also. But the term
-“Linux” has been associated ever since it was first coined
-with a philosophy that does not make a commitment to the freedom to
-cooperate. As the name is increasingly used by business, we will
-have even more trouble making it connect with community spirit.
- </p>
- <a name="index-developers_002c-proprietary-software-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-traps_002c-_0060_0060Linux_0027_0027-distribution-companies">
- </a>
- <a name="index-citizen-values_002c-convenience-v_002e-3">
- </a>
- <p>
- A great challenge to the future of free software comes from the
-tendency of the “Linux” distribution companies to add
-nonfree software to GNU/Linux
-in the name of convenience and power. All the major commercial
-distribution developers do this; none limits itself to free software.
-Most of them do not clearly identify the nonfree
-packages in their distributions. Many even develop nonfree software
-and add it to the system. Some outrageously advertise
-“Linux” systems that are “licensed per seat,”
-which give the user as much freedom as Microsoft
- <a name="index-Windows">
- </a>
- Windows.
- </p>
- <p>
- People try to justify adding nonfree software in the name of the
-“popularity of Linux”—in effect, valuing popularity above
-freedom. Sometimes this is openly admitted. For instance,
- <a name="index-Wired-magazine">
- </a>
- <cite>
- Wired
- </cite>
- magazine said that
- <a name="index-McMillan_002c-Robert">
- </a>
- Robert McMillan, editor of
- <a name="index-Linux-Magazine">
- </a>
- <cite>
- Linux Magazine
- </cite>
- , “feels
-that the move toward open source software should be fueled by
-technical, rather than political, decisions.”
- <a href="#FOOT28" name="DOCF28">
- (28)
- </a>
- And
- <a name="index-Caldera">
- </a>
- Caldera’s
-CEO openly urged
-users to drop the goal of freedom and work instead for the
-“popularity of Linux.”
- </p>
- <a name="index-citizen-values_002c-production-v_002e-freedom-and-way-of-life">
- </a>
- <p>
- Adding nonfree software to the GNU/Linux system may increase the
-popularity, if by popularity we mean the number of people using some
-of GNU/Linux in combination with
-nonfree software. But at the same time, it implicitly encourages the
-community to accept nonfree software as a good thing, and forget the
-goal of freedom. It is not good to drive faster if you can’t stay on the
-road.
- </p>
- <a name="index-libraries-_0028comp_002e_0029_002c-as-traps">
- </a>
- <a name="index-traps_002c-nonfree-libraries-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-traps_002c-nonfree-programming-tools">
- </a>
- <a name="index-developers_002c-traps-for-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-Motif-_0028see-also-LessTif_0029-2">
- </a>
- <a name="index-LessTif-_0028see-also-Motif_0029-2">
- </a>
- <p>
- When the nonfree “add-on” is a library or programming
-tool, it can become a trap for free software developers. When they
-write free software that depends on the nonfree package, their
-software cannot be part of a completely free system. Motif and
- <a name="index-Qt-2">
- </a>
- Qt trapped large amounts of free software in this way in the past,
-creating problems whose solutions took years. Motif remained somewhat
-of a problem until it became obsolete and was no longer used. Later,
- <a name="index-Sun-Microsystems">
- </a>
- Sun’s nonfree
- <a name="index-Java">
- </a>
- Java implementation had a similar effect: the Java Trap,
-fortunately now mostly corrected.
- </p>
- <p>
- If our community keeps moving in this direction, it could redirect the
-future of GNU/Linux into a mosaic of free and nonfree components.
-Five years from now, we will surely still have plenty of free
-software; but if we are not careful, it will hardly be usable without
-the nonfree software that users expect to find with it. If this
-happens, our campaign for freedom will have failed.
- </p>
- <p>
- If releasing free alternatives were simply a matter of programming,
-solving future problems might become easier as our community’s
-development resources increase. But we face obstacles that threaten to
-make this harder: laws that prohibit free software. As software patents
-mount up, and as laws like the
- <a name="index-DMCA-_0028see-also-_0060_0060Right-to-Read_002c_0027_0027-fair-use_002c-DRM_002c-and-libraries_0029">
- </a>
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act are used to prohibit the development of free software
-for important jobs such as viewing a DVD or listening to a
- <a name="index-RealAudio-stream">
- </a>
- RealAudio
-stream, we will find ourselves with no clear way to fight the patented
-and secret data formats except to
- <em>
- reject the nonfree programs
-that use them.
- </em>
- </p>
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-fight-for-freedom">
- </a>
- <p>
- Meeting these challenges will require many different kinds of effort.
-But what we need above all, to confront any kind of challenge, is to
-remember the goal of freedom to cooperate. We can’t expect a mere
-desire for powerful, reliable software to motivate people to make
-great efforts. We need the kind of determination that people have
-when they fight for their freedom and their community—determination
-to keep on for years and not give up.
- </p>
- <p>
- In our community, this goal and this determination emanate mainly from
-the
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Project-6">
- </a>
- GNU Project. We’re the ones who talk about freedom and community
-as something to stand firm for; the organizations that speak of
-“Linux” normally don’t say this. The magazines about
-“Linux” are typically full of ads for nonfree software;
-the companies that package “Linux” add nonfree software
-to the system; other companies “support Linux” by
-developing nonfree applications to run on GNU/Linux; the user groups
-for “Linux” typically invite salesmen to present those
-applications. The main place people in our community are likely to
-come across the idea of freedom and determination is in the GNU
-Project.
- </p>
- <p>
- But when people come across it, will they feel it relates to them?
- </p>
- <p>
- People who know they are using a system that came out of the GNU
-Project can see a direct relationship between themselves and GNU.
-They won’t automatically agree with our philosophy, but at least they
-will see a reason to think seriously about it. In contrast, people
-who consider themselves “Linux users,” and believe that
-the GNU Project “developed tools which proved to be useful in
-Linux,” typically perceive only an indirect relationship between
-GNU and themselves. They may just ignore the GNU philosophy when they
-come across it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The GNU Project is idealistic, and anyone encouraging idealism today
-faces a great obstacle: the prevailing ideology encourages people to
-dismiss idealism as “impractical.” Our idealism has been
-extremely practical: it is the reason we have a
-free GNU/Linux operating system.
-People who love this system ought to know that it is our idealism made
-real.
- </p>
- <a name="index-call-to-action_002c-use-correct-terminology-_0028see-also-terminology_0029-2">
- </a>
- <p>
- If “the job” really were done, if there were nothing at
-stake except credit, perhaps it would be wiser to let the matter drop.
-But we are not in that position. To inspire people to do the work
-that needs to be done, we need to be recognized for what we have
-already done. Please help us, by calling the operating
-system GNU/Linux.
- <a name="index-nonfree-software_002c-insidious-and-nefarious-addition-of-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-terminology_002c-importance-of-using-correct-2">
- </a>
- <a name="index-_0060_0060Linux_002c_0027_0027-erroneous-use-of-term-_0028see-also-open-source_0029-2">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002fLinux-v_002e-_0060_0060Linux_0027_0027-_0028see-also-both-open-source-and-terminology_0029-1">
- </a>
- <a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU_002fLinux-v_002e-_0060_0060Linux_0027_0027-_0028see-also-both-open-source-and-terminology_0029-1">
- </a>
- </p>
- <div class="footnote">
- <hr>
- <h3>
- Footnotes
- </h3>
- <h3>
- <a href="#DOCF28" name="FOOT28">
- (28)
- </a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Michelle Finley, “French Pols Say, ‘Open It Up,’” 24 April 2000,
- <a href="http://wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/04/35862">
- http://wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/04/35862
- </a>
- .
- </p>
- </hr>
- </div>
- <hr size="2"/>
-