Ummm, common usage calls that the kernel and all progams necessary to
make the system the OS. The line is quite blurry. Only in OS books
do people think they can define it definitively. After working for a
hardware company, the OS was anything software that we shipped on our
machines. At least that is what they called the tape that had libc,
cat, ls, vmunix, et al on it. Maybe that is technically incorrect,
but a lot of bright people produced that OS/MP tape, and I think they
would have caught the mistake.
Linux wouldn't be 1/100th as popular today as it is without the FSF
code that is in use on it. While you may or may not agree with RMS,
he does deserve a lot of credit for creating or leading in the
creation of most of the system that you folks are typing at. You
might not like it that fact. Your pride and "Linux is the best thing
all else is trash" attitude might get in the way of your realizing
that you are standing on the shoulders of giants. If those giants
were to not be there, Linux wouldn't be where it is today.
If nothing else, at least humor one of the men who enabled linux to be
as successful as it is today. Seems like biting the hand that feeds
you to attack him and quote sophomoric definitions to someone that has
been hacking longer than you have been alive. RMS isn't hitching a
ride on Linux, since most of the code that is running under linux
passed through the FSF, with the exceptions of TeX, perl and a window
system named X.
Personally, I think it is too late to change the "popular" name of
Linux, but RMS is certailly allowed to get a larger billing on the
credits line. There has been a lot of hard work in many areas and
sometimes that is hard to appreciate when you ftp a hunk of software.
Warner