Richard Stallman wants to popularise the term GNU/Linux instead of using the currently popular term Linux. He correctly states that the term Linux, besides being thoroughly inaccurate, totally fails to introduce new users to the legal and philosophical concepts that underlie the basis of the GNU/Linux OS; but is it feasible to make such a change at this late stage?
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Anybody up to writing good directory software?
Tue, 2007-02-20 11:17 — David JonathanSince the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).
Is better education the key to finding better software?
Sat, 2007-03-03 03:25 — Edward RusselI read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.
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3 years 36 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago
A misnomer is always a misnomer
We should always be correct in our language as life is already confusing enough without having to decipher ambiguous language.
GNU is a system of software that forms the basis of the "complete software system". GNU was born in order to provide a free operating system (and related free software). GNU has its own operating system kernel called Hurd. Hurd works today and is usable though it may not work on your hardware at this moment because the Hurd isn't as it isn't as complete as other kernels.
Linux is an operating system kernel and related OS hardware drivers. Linux by itself has very limited functionality for a computer system. Linux together with GNU provides the basis of a usable computer system and hence, the name GNU/Linux.
If you wish to name other software included in a GNU/Linux system, you may do so but the most important software in the system is GNU and Linux as they form the basis for everything else.
Balzac
3 years 36 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago
If the Linux Kernel is a horse which has bolted from the stable
It's pulling a chariot with a GNU riding in back and holding the reins. Giddyup!
yamanu
3 years 36 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago
What about crossbreeding
Kicking off the Linux as an essential part of the GNU stack is clearly the solution. I suggest some form of crossbreeding with BSD, forking a BSD project under GPL or something. Yes, I'm a heretic, but it is one clear way outa this mess. Except we loose a buzzword? :)
spikeb
3 years 36 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago
Well....
There's always debian's kfreebsd!
lozz
3 years 36 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago
Friends, Romans, GNU/Linux users
I didn't come to bury GNU/Linux. I've been trained to use the term and will continue to do so.
However, regular readers of this site are aware that about 90% of postings use the term Linux instead of GNU/Linux and most of them intend to continue using it.
That being the case, I hoped to stimulate a discussion of alternative methods to introduce many of these to the knowledge that there is much more involved than the simple term "Linux implies.