> Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 22:37:28 -0500
> From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
> To: ganderson@clark.net
> Cc: linux-misc@vger.rutgers.edu, linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
> Subject: Linux isn't an operating system
>
> on NASA TV last week indicate that computers running under the Linux
> operating system are being used on STS-75. Linux is powerful 32-bit
> multiuser, multitasking operating system similar to Unix in many ways
> except cost and licensing....
>
> Linux was designed a few short years ago by Linus Torvalds, a graduate...
>
> This article makes a common mistake: confusing the whole operating
> system with the kernel. Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel, Linux. A
> whole operating systems consists of Linux and many other programs,
> which were written by a great many people.
>
> There are a number of whole operating systems using the Linux kernel,
> Most of them are more or less close variants of the GNU system, so I
> recommend the term "Linux-based GNU system" for them.
>
> I'm going to talk to the author of the article about this distinction.
>
>
Well, I suppose we can talk semantics till the cows come home. I just
thought the rest of the Linux community, as a whole, would find the
ariticle interesting. Perhaps a few others felt as I did, and uttered a
quiet "YES !!", in a sense of pride at what has been accomplished by
literally hundreds, or thousands of us, and Linus in particular. I
wasn't terribly concerned about the semantic distinction.
Gary Anderson
ganderson@clark.net