Ted> The GNU community seems to be much more concerned with
Ted> pushing a specific social goal using the GNU GPL as the means
Ted> towards that goal.
Your article was excellent and I mostly agree with it. The points of
others about the meaning of the concept "operating system" are also
good.
Anyway, I still think the "Linux" part in a typical Linux
distribution, say RedHat or Slackware, is a bit overadvertised when
compared to the GNU part. This may not be too disturbing to the
development communities, but it is unfair towards the GNU project.
Quite many end users feel they are just using Linux. And it is not
uncommon for people who see a Linux system for the first time to
comment something like "Cool! Think, Torvalds has made all this. He
must be a genius."
"GNU" in the name of the system would perhaps correct the both errors
inherent in this kind of view. At least it would raise the question
"What GNU?".
Things are of course quite complicated if many people feel that
too much ideology is associated with the GNU project. And it is also
right that a computer running Linux should be called a Linux system as
well as a computer running Windows 95 is a Windows 95 system. It is
just a little unfair.
-- Janne