[Pan-users] Re: [OT] Linux vs GNU/Linux vs Freedomware Linux Was: Gmime

[Yavor Doganov]

[If people are getting annoyed, please let us know, we can stop ;-}]

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:03:20 +0000, Duncan wrote:

> Note that I regularly (and to some controversy, deliberate in the
> sense that I'm deliberately provoking thought on the subject, and
> believe that yes, it /does/ come down to that) use the term
> freedomware and its corresponding slaveryware.  The "freedomware"
> thing is the English version of "libreware", emphasizing "free as in
> freedom", with the extension being that there's a /very/ /real/
> cost, as is unfortunately often the case with freedom.
> Unfortunately, the "Free" in "Free Software" is simply ambiguous in
> the English language, where "freedom" lacks that ambiguity.

I like that, but remember that "freedomware" and "slaveryware" are
words that you (or somebody else, I don't know) made up -- they don't
exist in the English language.  It is true that "Free Software" is
ambiguous, but so far it is the best term and all ambiguity vanishes
if you explain that it is a matter of freedom, not zero price (that
is, if you're giving a speech or persuading somebody).  OTOH, in most
languages, when we say "Free Software" the word "free" is clearly
derived from "freedom", "liberty", so there is no problem.

> It's certainly disappointing to both myself and Stallman, and I'd
> suppose anyone else taking the libreware viewpoint (even in this
> context, I have difficulty saying "Free Software" due to the
> ambiguity), that Linus seems to be more of the "open source"
> "convenience" view, but that doesn't mean I share Stallman's belief
> that it should be "GNU/Linux".

Well, the most important thing is to prevent Linus' "philosophy" to
reach the masses.  He is free to speak about it and to try to spread
it as much as possible, but it is not the motivation for the
development of the OS, only his motivation to develop the kernel as a
component.  Non-free software is a social problem and the solution is
free software.  This has nothing to do with the practical convenience
that sometimes free software delivers.  Since nowadays more and more
users start using free software solely for practical reasons, we have
to speak about about freedom even more loudly than before.  Our
software spreads much faster than our ideals so we have to catch up;
otherwise the people will not consider protecting their freedom an
important thing and they're likely to lose it.

The GNU Project is the principal developer of the OS and the simplest
reason of saying "GNU/Linux" is that some users might try to find out
why it is called so and why the system was developed.  Then they'll
find the GNU Philosophy section at gnu.org and might consider the
reasons compelling enough to join the Free Software Movement, or at
least defend their freedom.  This won't happen if one reads linux.org
or linux.com.

> I suppose that point could be made if it were "FSF/Linux" or some
> such, but GNU/Linux, where the "GNU" part simply stands for "GNU's
> Not Unix", doesn't make the point about freedom any more
> effectively.

I think it does.  It is very well explained also at
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/linux-gnu-freedom.html
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html

GNU/Linux is a variant of the GNU system.  I use all variants
(GNU/Hurd and GNU/kFreeBSD, haven't tried GNU/Minix) so I often call
the system GNU when I'm talking about something that is common and not
Linux-specific.

On a more technical note, the Linux kernel contains GCC-specific code
so it won't compile with another compiler.  It is in fact useless
without the GNU components (with some exceptions for embedded systems,
but they're made with GNU tools as well).  What's far more disturbing
is that Linux, that is the word and the project that most people
associate with "Free Software", contains non-free software in its
source.  The Linux developers consider popularity a more important
goal than freedom, so this is not surprising.

> IMO, the "freedomware" point is entirely separate from the (IMO far
> less important) branding (or credit) point that GNU/Linux makes.

The "credit" point is a minor issue, I tend to agree.  But where else
I can read about the "freedomware" point?  Where it is explained in
detail and in a manner that grabbed my attention immediately and made
me join the struggle?  Where I can read about the history of the Free
Software Movement and the reasons that lead to the establishment of
the GNU Project that resulted in the development of our beloved free
OS (GNU/Linux, in case it is not clear :-})?

-- 
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