Chad wrote:
[snip]
As for GNU, Linux makes use of GNU tools the compiler and various other utilities and FSF ideas. But much of the OSS software (Kde, Gnome, OO.org, TheGimp) seems to have been developed firstly for Linux rather than GNU and should linux not have existed I'd doubt much of that software would. Linux would still no doubt exist with out GNU (after all there are other compilers and tool chains and any one can produce develop a licence (eg GPL theres enough of them after all and some are older than GPL)) but would GNU still exist or at least be as mainstream if it wasn't for Linux?From "The Choice of a Gnu Generation, An Interview with Linus Torvalds", at http://www.softpanorama.org/People/Torvalds/linus1993.shtml:
*Meta:* Do you agree that without the net to facilitate collaboration and a base of preexisting free software (e.g., the GNU tools), Linux would not be nearly as developed as it is?
*Linus:* No question about it. Without net access, the project would never have even gotten off the ground; having access to gcc and the other GNU tools was very important.
These arguments are circular, and serve no useful purpose. Would Linux exist without GNU? Probably. Would GNU exist without Linux? Probably (it already did). Would the GIMP exist without Linux? Probably.
Douglas.
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