Hi, Two points I've found.
1) Calling this variant of the GNU system "Linux" plays into the hands of people who choose their software based only on technical advantage, not caring whether it respects their freedom.[9]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux_naming_controversy#_note-6> 2) The use of the word "Linux" to refer to the kernel, the operating system, and entire distributions <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution>, often leads to confusion about the distinctions between the three. Many GNU packages <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GNU_packages> are a key part of almost every Linux distribution. Media sources frequently make erroneous statements such as claiming that the entire Linux operating system (rather than simply the kernel) was written from scratch by Torvalds in 1991;[*citation needed*] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources> that Torvalds directs the development of other components such as graphical interfaces or the GNU tools; or that new releases of the kernel involve a similar degree of user-visible change as do new versions of proprietary<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software>operating systems such as Microsoft Windows <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows>, where many things besides the kernel change simultaneously. Some argue, that technically or historical it shouldn't be named this way. I posting one article from one link I've given. [Start] GNU Users who have Never Heard of GNU by Richard Stallman Most people have never heard of GNU. Even most of the people who use the GNU system have never heard of GNU, thanks to so many people and companies who teach them to call it "Linux". Nonetheless, the name GNU has certain associations, which people will discover once they hear the name. GNU is associated with the ideals of freedom of the free software movement. That association is no accident; the motive for developing GNU was specifically to make it possible to use a computer and have freedom. The association between the name GNU and our goals of freedom and social solidarity exists in the minds of hundreds of thousands of GNU/Linux users that do know about GNU. It exists in Wikipedia. And it exists around the web; if these users search for GNU, they will find www.gnu.org, which talks about free software and freedom. A person seeing the name "GNU" for the first time in "GNU/Linux" won't immediately associate it with anything. However, when people know that the system is basically GNU, that brings them a step closer to learning about our ideals. For instance, they might become curious and look for more information about GNU. If they don't look for it, they may encounter it anyway. The "open source" rhetoric tends to lead people's attention away from issues of users' freedom, but not totally; there is still discussion of GNU and free software, and people have some chance of coming across it. When that happens, the reader is more likely to pay attention to information about GNU (such as that it's the work of a campaign for freedom and community) if he knows he is a user of the GNU system. Over time, calling the system "GNU/Linux" spreads awareness of the ideals of freedom for which we developed the GNU system. It is also useful as a reminder for people in our community who know about these ideals, in a world where much of discussion of free software takes a totally practical (and thus amoral) approach. When we ask you to call the system "GNU/Linux", we do so because awareness of GNU slowly but surely brings with it awareness of the free software ideals of freedom and community. [end] The last sentence is my point. Because GNU is associated with software freedom so putting it GNU/Linux might bring out the awareness of software freedom out better. And while people can choose to call GNU/Linux or Linux, but do other new faces can choose not to be mislead of the term Linux, which at times means alternative OS, and not freedom OS? Linux means the name of the kernel in the first place. A kernel is part of but not full operating system. I don't want to touch on technical terms such as GNU and other libraries are used in the operating system, nor touch on historically, it should be called GNU/Linux. But since GNU term is associated with software freedom, it should be advisable to call it this way. Free/Linux or Freedom/Linux sounds awful. GNU/Linux sounds much nicer, since we should look at the core philosophy of GNU. GNU does not equal to GPL. There are few compatible licenses that are under GNU. In the first place, there's Emacs General Public License, the GCC General Public License, and others, and GPL is not invented at that time. A lot of people just associate licenses to the naming, which I don't see the point. As for the name, Free Software Philosophy and Linux work hand in hand, to make it so successful. This explains the name GNU/Linux better also. We shouldn't be miss out this point also. Regards John On 6/20/07, Anton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
nop. This is only one point of view. Many people including myself strongly disagree with it. For more details see wiki link, posted by Eugene in the very first reply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux_naming_controversy So, would you rather agree with Linus, Linux creator? Arguments for "Linux": Linus Torvalds has said in the documentary Revolution OS, when asked if the name GNU/Linux was justified: Well, I think it's justified, but it's justified if you actually make a GNU distribution of Linux ... the same way that I think that "Red Hat Linux" is fine, or "SuSE Linux" or "Debian Linux," because if you actually make your own distribution of Linux, you get to name the thing, but calling Linux in general "GNU Linux" I think is just ridiculous.[23] Finally I found this quote. That's exactly my point. "Ridiculous" is the right word. Regards, Anton On 20/06/07, John Thng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello people, I think all should read these articles below also, before > commenting further. > http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html > http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html > http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html > > A lot of questions are asked and answered in the first link. > > Regards > John >
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