-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Saturday 14 October 2006 07:10 PM, Kenneth Gonsalves cobbled together some glyphs to say: >> I hope you are happy with this. Now you _may_ claim that those docs are >> not the `official' word or you won't believe it unless <insert foo Linux >> [sic] guru> says so, but honestly I couldn't care less. > > strangely enough, i am aware of the distinction between OSS and FOSS - > but i am under the impression that linux came under the category of > FOSS. And if it didnt, how come you guys are trying to own it by saying > GNU/Linux? You cant have your cake and eat it too - either Linux (as in > GNU/Linux) is FOSS or Linux (as in Linux[sic]) is not FOSS. Make up your > mind.
If you judge _only_ the source, then yes, Linux (the kernel) is Free Software and Open Source Software too. But there is more to a software than just the license, it's the motivation. Linus _himself_ has said that he doesn't believe in the Free Software philosophy and that it's Open Source and not Free Software. He started writing the kernel due to purely technical reasons and still does the same for the same reasons. But look at rms' motivation behind writing, say GNU Emacs. He never went out to write the greatest text editor, he only wanted to write a Free text editor. The fact that both Linux (the kernel) and GNU Emacs are great pieces of software is merely a very pleasant side-effect and nothing else. Moreover, I guess you fail to understand the distinction between Linux and Linux [sic]. When we say Linux, we mean the kernel but Linux [sic] means the GNU/Linux Operating system which many people wrongly call as only Linux, and that's why the [sic]. And no matter what people say, no matter how much lobbying we do, no body can ``own'' Linux (the kernel) by claiming that it's a Free Software, because that's exactly what we don't want. None can own anything by setting it Free, and as far as taking credit for Linux (the kernel) is concerned, the FSF never did that, and we all know that Linux (the kernel) is not a GNU Project. What we are asking credit for is the GNU system with the Linux kernel (GNU/Linux) that people use, and wrongly term as only Linux. This obviously creates a lot of confusion (something like what you just said), and people tend to believe that Linus Torvalds & gang wrote the whole OS which is obviously not the case. So in summary, credit is due to the GNU Project for the GNU/Linux OS (which some people call only Linux), Linux (the kernel) _is_ Free Software (but not a GNU Project), when we ask for credit, we mean credit for the GNU system with the Linux kernel (GNU/Linux) and not the Linux kernel (which some people call only Linux). I know that a lot of the above is redundant, but I have no idea how to help you guys in getting rid of such wrong and pre-conceived notions like what you just said. Regards, BG - -- Baishampayan Ghose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ubuntu -- Linux for Human Beings http://www.ubuntu.com/ 1024D/86361B74 BB2C E244 15AD 05C5 523A 90E7 4249 3494 8636 1B74 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFFMPgUQkk0lIY2G3QRAuQaAJ9iujntGv8gSts46VxJCK3Z+py42QCgtwXQ oHgm9vUvbEUCgJLLWhrRpgU= =muIe -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
