You are right about the former point. However, all the alternatives that explicitly the word “system” are too long and not very attractive (please tell me if I missed one). Furthermore, this name tells us some things that I believe the others don't convey very well. For example, it tells us explicitly that the system is a distribution of software. Since it contains software that is not installed by default, that might overlap (the GNU project by itself has a large number of editors: Emacs, ed, nano and also the multiple editors of the GNOME project) or be replaced by other software that is also part of the distribution even if it is fundamental to the system (I'm talking about GNU Hurd and Linux-libre), I'm not sure even calling it an operating system is a good idea. It might be one, but it clearly doesn't look like Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X, which are what people are likely to think about when hearing or seeing the name if it contains the word “system”.
Since the word “GNU” in the name means that the distribution is part of the GNU project, what is implied is true. There are other distributions that contain GNU software, even that are connected with the GNU project (recommended by the Free Software Foundation), but none is part of it. It is common to prepend the name of things that are part of the GNU project with its name, so there again should be no confusion here. 2015-01-15 21:10 GMT-05:00 Richard Stallman <[email protected]>: > [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] > [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] > [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > > > > I would like to suggest the name “GNU Software Distribution”, > > That has two problems: > > * It doesn't say that this is a distribution of the GNU _system_. > > * It implies this is the one and only "software distribution" > that is connected with GNU. > > -- > Dr Richard Stallman > President, Free Software Foundation > 51 Franklin St > Boston MA 02110 > USA > www.fsf.org www.gnu.org > Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. > Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call. >
