RMS, Free software and the Ubuntu CDs

[Michael T. Richter]

On Sun, 2006-02-07 at 10:00 +0200, Alexander Skwar wrote:

> >  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that 
> > GNU doesn't mean a damn in terms of Linux's sudden surge on the desktop 
> > without X.



> On the desktop. That might be right. But Linux still is more important
> on servers. And one thing that's common between desktops and servers
> is, that they use the GNU userland.


Remind me: did Unca Bill get filthy rich selling servers or selling to
the desktop?


> > Further, just on the side of salesmanship: a short, easily-pronounced 
> > name -- "Linux" in this case -- is far superior to a clumsy expression 
> > like "Guh-new plus Linux" or "Guh-new slash Linux".



> Hä? I always pronunce "GNU/Linux" as "gnu linux". I omit the slash. And
> "gnu" isn't such a hard word...


It's an ugly word spoken in English.  It sounds like a bodily function,
not a word describing something desirable.  (Many UNIX commands share
this trait: awk, grep, fsck, sed, etc.)  Guh-new.  Ugly.  Clumsy.
Just... no.

Linux, in comparison, positively flows from the tongue.  Juxtaposing
"Guh-new" with Linux only serves to heighten what a dreadful name GNU
had always been.


> Is my pronuniciation wrong? And what's that "GNU+Linux"? I've never heard
> that before. Where was this term used first?


I first heard it from RMS himself when he was babbling about how
important it was that we call it "Guh-new slash Linux" or "Guh-new plus
Linux" at some conference or another.  It was captured in the movie
Revolution OS also -- again straight from the horse's mouth.  Of course
you can go to http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html or
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html and read RMS' rants directly.


> > --
> Could you please use a proper signature delimiter of "-- "? 


Ummmm....  What?  Please use "--" instead of... "--"?!

--
Michael T. Richter
Email: ttmrichter at gmail.com, mtr1966 at hotpop.com
MSN: ttmrichter at hotmail.com, mtr1966 at hotmail.com; YIM:
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mtr1966 at jabber.cn

"To [the Chinese], all other people are barbarians." --The Dalai Lama
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