> > On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Richard E. Hawkins Esq. wrote: > > > But it comes down to "GNU/Linux" being a political statement, and one > > that I disagree with. > > > > rick > > > > Agreed. I tend to use GNU/Linux only when talking about Debian because > that is what Debian calls their product. Much energy is wasted in > political debates about the various levels of freeness of things. Reminds > me of arguments about angels on pins.
Personally I don't understand why people are offended by GNU/linux. Just start counting the number of gnu programs in debian, and see how important they are. There is the gnu compiler that made linux possible in the first place, there is bison and flex, there are the gnu file utils, there is gnu diff and friends, there is gnu libc, most of the programs that form the core of debian _are_ gnu stuff. What is the problem that this is reflected in the name? Why are you so offended if the Free Software Foundation asks for some recognition for these programs, that they still maintain? The GNU in debian's name reflects the factual presence of lots of gnu programs in the core of debian, it is not a political statement in the first place, it is recognition for real work done. > I do not use Debian because of their political philosophy, I use it > because of its technical merits. If anything, their political stance > diminishes the utility of the distribution. It turns pine into pain, for > example. Please check out the mail list archives on pine. The pine people will not allow binaries of pine distributed with bugs fixed unless they officially approve. To approve officially means a lengthy process. They are their own license PITA. > If forced to choose politics (or as RMS would call it > "psycho-social" issues) over utility, politics will loose. I am not > against proprietary software, I am against bad software. I will not use a > bad free product when a good non-free product is available. If software is > good and free, so much the better. Think for a while which of the free unices is having the biggest attention now. Is it one of the BSD-s? No, it is linux. The reason for this is that it has been released under the GPL, and that it integrates with all the GPL-ed unix utils from the FSF. This ensures developpers maximum freedom to do what they want in the long run. It is no fun to develop software in your free time that has to stay proprietary and is controlled by external forces. It is no fun to have to sign non-disclosure agreements to use certain programming tools, or to have to pay license fees if you would want to make some money out of the programs you wrote yourself. On the long run most good programmers prefer GPL-ed programs, because it puts them in control, and allows them to construct the best system without compromises. The GPL ensures this, gnu/linux is GPL-ed, and therefore came out as the most popular free unix with the most software and the best hardware support. Politics _do matter_. Debian is the distribution which is most aware of this, which is the reason they are the best, IMHO :) HTH, Eric Meijer -- E.L. Meijer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | tel. office +31 40 2472189 Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032 Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054
