The Haifa Linux Club was founded almost 4.5 years ago. It was designated to be the home of Linux programmers. That's it.
Over the years, Haifux has evolved to what is currently (in my eyes) a very lively LUG. There are lectures with topics related to Linux, GNU and other stuff, there are Linux activities, there were once Perl activities, etc. This is not the first time the Haifa GNU/Linux club is discussed (I recall an installation party, who was sponsored by people from that club... even though I had no idea that was the name of the club). My personal belief is that Linux is Linux, and GNU/Linux is something different (we have had kernel lectures, so they are certianly Linux lectures and not GNU/Linux). I don't see any problem speaking about GNU and FSF here at haifux, and I think some of those issues have been presented in the past in various lectures. However, this is not a good reason to change the name of the club to GNU/Linux. There is NO OFFICIAL opinion to haifux in any matter. Just three emails ago, I noted that there are no official members, so it is hard to have official opinion. There are some who want everything to be GPLed. Some of us enjoy LGPL, X11, and even (good forbid) closed source software. If you wish, you can have a lecture about the history of GNU, or if you like about various licensing schemes. My personal guess that it would be a nice lecture, followed by the much nicer flame war (please leave torches at home). About the links... oh well.. maybe some of them. Note that many other good linux links are not there, so by not putting it there... oh well... maybe. I personally prefer my IACR membership over FSF's one. On Fri, 6 Feb 2004, Yoni Rabkin Katzenell wrote: > > First let me say that I like the new Web site very much. It does my > heart good to see valid HTML in a well structured Web site. > > Now on to my questions: > > Why is Haifux called a Linux club and not a GNU/Linux club? > > What is Haifux's official stance on software licenses? Are we just going > with the flow or should we take a stance and say "We at Haifux believe > that software licensed under the GNU/GPL and compatible licenses promote > collaboration, cooperation and the advancement of software development > both for the individual and the software industry."? > > Was there a vote taken some time in the past? Did people decide to go > the OSI way? If so why is there no link to the OSI's web page. > > I was quite surprised to find that the site does not even contain a link > to www.gnu.org, not even in the "Linux Links" section. > > Is this they way we want people curious about Linux to go? Why should we > keep them ignorant of the history and the licenses that make > collaboration possible? If not to actively support the FSF with words on > the site and with the group's official title, then at least we can give > a single HTML link to their site. > > BTW I've donned my asbestos body armor prior to posting so feel free to > flame me to a crisp. My FSF associate membership card (#1250) will > protect me! > > -- Orr Dunkelman, [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that reason infallibly be faulty" -- Herman Melville, Moby Dick. Spammers: http://vipe.technion.ac.il/~orrd/spam.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Haifa Linux Club Mailing List (http://www.haifux.org) To unsub send an empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
