The Stallman Factor

An anonymous reader sent us linkage to a LinuxWorld story about Stallman's Position in the Linux World. Talks a lot about RMS's tacticts for getting his acronym included with the kernel's name. This has been a long-running debate, but personally I just don't care. I respect the GNU Project's involvement. But I'm not gonna spit out extra syllables and keystrokes just to appease anyone.

Comments

Acronyms

[Britney]

getting his acronym included with the kernel's name

RMS - so he

1. got Root
2. acts Mean
3. looks Square

Re:Acronyms

[phyxeld]

He's got root, and might act mean sometimes, but he sure doesn't look square to me!

Thankfully due to the GPL...

[grahamsz]

...he can release his own GNU/Linux

Anyway i think GNU probably get enough credit purely because the GPL is mentioned so frequently in association wiht linux.

Re:Thankfully due to the GPL...

[Arandir]

The should have told him the "L" stood for "LiGNuX".

The real difference

[gowen]

None of these men evoke the same response as Stallman. Mention RMS in a Linux crowd and you'll find people who love him, hate him, and those who simply roll their eyes

Mentioning ESR's name will get the those responses too. The only real difference is that if you call ESR and RMS whacko s to their faces, Stallman isn't likely to shoot you.

Here's why its Linux, and not GNU/Linux

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

The "GNU/" is silent. Get over it. ;-)

Re:Here's why its Linux, and not GNU/Linux

[crawling_chaos]

GNU may be many things, but silent isn't one of them. Particularly with RMS acting as spokesman!

Re:Here's why its Linux, and not GNU/Linux

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

True, but the whole naming war is silly. How can you expect to take over the world, if you can't decide on how to name it?

(Granted, I'm just a silly user of a dying os (BSD), so my opionion may not be valid (not to mention my spelling))

Extras

[saintlupus]

But I'm not gonna spit out extra syllables and keystrokes just to appease anyone.

That's okay. You'd probably just misspell them, anyhow.

--saint

GNU/this GNU/that

[jeffy124]

GNU/I GNU/once GNU/read GNU/something GNU/saying GNU/that GNU/RMS GNU/won't GNU/rest GNU/until "GNU" GNU/is GNU/in GNU/front GNU/of GNU/every GNU/word GNU/in GNU/the GNU/English GNU/language. GNU/Doesnt GNU/he GNU/realize GNU/that GNU/too GNU/much GNU/of GNU/a GNU/thing GNU/would GNU/leave GNU/him GNU/joyless, GNU/not GNU/to GNU/mention GNU/it's GNU/just GNU/plain GNU/weird?

Re:GNU/this GNU/that

[swagr]

I hope you used GNU/sed to do that.

Re:GNU/this GNU/that

[frank_adrian314159]

I hope you used GNU/sed to do that.

Or at least GNU Emacs.

Re:Credit where credit is due

[Bouncings]

If we start putting GNU before every program that was made with GNU software, where will that lead us? Combine that with gnome, and you've got GNU/Gvi, GNU/GMozilla, GNU/GGoddammit

Gnu/Isn't Gnu/it Gnu/up Gnu/to Gnu/the Gnu/Package

[idonotexist]

Gnu/RMS Gnu/is Gnu/a Gnu/victim Gnu/of Gnu/his Gnu/own Gnu/success. Gnu/With Gnu/widespread Gnu/use Gnu/of Gnu/Linux, Gnu/there Gnu/is Gnu/less Gnu/likelihood Gnu/of Gnu/the Gnu/use Gnu/of Gnu/this Gnu/acronym. Gnu/Certainly Gnu/packages Gnu/must Gnu/utilize Gnu/unique Gnu/labelling Gnu/or Gnu/product Gnu/names Gnu/to Gnu/quickly Gnu/show Gnu/uniqueness Gnu/compared Gnu/with Gnu/other Gnu/products. Gnu/If Gnu/not, Gnu/a Gnu/consumer Gnu/or Gnu/user Gnu/may Gnu/be Gnu/easily Gnu/confused Gnu/and Gnu/cannot Gnu/readily Gnu/identify Gnu/product Gnu/differences.

Certainly it is annonying for all products to have a like name, isn't it?

Re:Linux is a kernel

[Bouncings]

And GNU/Linus is a programmer person. GNU/RMS is a person who smells funny.

A Story that this reminds me of

[gdeciantis]

Stallman made a speach at my school a few years back to a room full of crowded CS students. He was introduced by a Religion professor. Now being a Religion professor, he made a few blunders about the IT world, to which he received some laughter. The professor then blurted out "Well, at least I have social skills!" This received a good reception to the open minded students. At this point Stallman turned to me and said "I don't get it." I explained to him that software developers tend to not have good social skills. He didn't look impressed. Then he approached the stage with his long hair, long beard, and wearing what looked like a poncho.

Re:A Story that this reminds me of

[RelliK]

Hey that my school! UW

The speech culminated with RMS putting on what was supposed to be a nimbus (it was an old HD platter as far as I can tell) and proclaiming his religion. Unlike most religions, celebacy is not required. But you must use only Free Software on your computer. Like GNU/emacs. Using proprietary software is a sin.

audience: what about vi?
RMS: using vi is not a sin, it's a punishment.

Re:A Story that this reminds me of

[MattRog]

Actually I like this one better:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/graphics/raymo nd007-3.j pg

Re:A Story that this reminds me of

[sharkey]

celebacy is not required.

But, mostly involutarily, widely practised.

Re:pedantry.. but..

[PhilHibbs]

If you're going to be pedantic, then so am I! Just because it's compiled with GCC, that doesn't make it part of the GNU project. Using a GPL'd compiler does not make the compiled output GPL'd. Hah, I out-pedant thee! A pox on thy inferior pedantry!

Beards are fun

[Anonymous Coward]

The beard is so evil. It makes him look like a pirate:

"Y'AAAR! Avast ye two-timin' land-lubbers! I'm Red-Beard Stallman, the evil GNU pirate! Me thinks ye be leavin' me outa yer popularity contest, so I've come ta steal yer Linux booty! Y'AAAAR!"

Re:Stallman is not on the left

[Anonymous Coward]

And how can you say the author of emacs has no practical value?

Stallman is hairy and bloated ... who says software doesn't tend to resemble its authors.

The Stampede Approacheth

[bill.sheehan]

It's all a moot point, because any day now Linux is going to be trampled under the hooves of the GNU HURD. Yes, it's true, Linux is faltering. GNU HURD, the only software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms (according to Brother Thomas) is looming on the horizon. It's been 12 years in the making and they're already up to version 0.2!!! Fear the rolling thunder of the GNU HURD!

Sarcastic? Moi?

Re:pedantry.. but..

[tps12]

Hand compiling isn't so bad. You pretty much look at a line and think of the equivalent assembly instruction. E.g. (warning: untested code, UAYOR)

x += y;

becomes

RADD R1 R1 R2

Compilers are a convenience, but far from a necessity.

Re:Credit where credit is due

[Golias]

Let's just be totally frank here... a reference to Stallman's group, representing their contribution, would probably be a lot more common if "GNU" was not such an incredibly stupid name. I mean, he even expects you to pronounce it "guh-NEW" for shit's sake. Can I buy a vowel? I know that recursive acronyms seemed like a cute fad back in the 80's and 90's, but really "GNU's Not Unix!?" Was that really the best anybody could do?

If they had called it "Freenix" or "StallmanOS" or something, it might not have occurred to Linus and his buddies to come up with a new name when they were developping the Linux kernel.

As it is, whoever thought "the GNU System" was a cool name simply blew it. Almost nobody says "guh-NOO-LIN-ux" when discussing Linux, and almost nobody ever will. Try to get over it. Life will go on.