From 22c3bfee9148e1836817ef00b4829a8385570c69 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Grothoff Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2022 17:04:26 +0200 Subject: update RMS articles --- .../blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html | 66 ++++++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-) (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html') diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html index fcd55fe..cdef21a 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/why-gnu-linux.html @@ -1,42 +1,43 @@ - + + + + Why GNU/Linux? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation -

What's in a Name?

+ + + +
+

What's in a Name?

-
by by Richard Stallman
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-
-
-

To learn more about this issue, you can read -our GNU/Linux FAQ, our page on -Linux and the GNU Project, which gives a history of the GNU/Linux system as it relates to this issue of naming, -and our page on GNU -Users Who Have Never Heard of GNU.

-
- -

This essay is published in - -Free Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard -M. Stallman.

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- -

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 +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.

+ + +

Does this really matter for our community? Is it important whether people know the system's origin, history, and purpose? Yes—because people @@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ 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”, +“Linux” systems that are “licensed per seat,” which give the user as much freedom as Microsoft Windows.

@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ that the move toward open source software should be fueled by technical, rather than political, decisions.” And Caldera's CEO openly urged users -to drop +to drop the goal of freedom and work instead for the “popularity of Linux”.

@@ -176,16 +177,16 @@ 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 +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 +Linux,” typically perceive only an indirect relationship between GNU and themselves. They may just ignore the GNU philosophy when they come across it.

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 +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 @@ -198,7 +199,12 @@ 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.

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+ +
+

This essay is published in +Free +Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard +M. Stallman.

@@ -248,7 +254,7 @@ of this article.

There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -

Copyright © 2000, 2006, 2007, 2014-2016, 2020, 2021 Richard Stallman

+

Copyright © 2000, 2007, 2021 Richard Stallman

This page is licensed under a Creative @@ -258,10 +264,10 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Updated: -$Date: 2021/04/07 17:55:37 $ +$Date: 2021/11/02 12:34:35 $

- + -- cgit v1.2.3