Here is an interview with Richard Stallman about a range of free software topics including GPLv3 and comment on the Microsoft patent issue. Stallman has a go at Linus Torvalds even suggesting that if people want to keep their freedom they better not follow Torvalds. From the interview: "The fact that Torvalds says "open source" instead of "free software" shows where he is coming from. I wrote the GNU GPL to defend freedom for all users of all versions of a program. I developed version 3 to do that job better and protect against new threats. Torvalds says he rejects this goal; that's probably why he doesn't appreciate GPL version 3. I respect his right to express his views, even though I think they are foolish. However, if you don't want to lose your freedom, you had better not follow him."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2007-02-17
Apparently, in a typical distribution, Linux itself (the kernel) accounts for approximately 3% of the total source code. The "GNU system" accounts for approximately 28% of the source code.
Can you name anything else where the major, obvious, largest part is ignored, and the item is commonly named after a tiny piece one tenth the size?
Since you consider functionality paramount, then I take it that you call it a "GNU system" then, and ignore the word "Linux"?
Edited 2007-09-12 08:17
Member since:2006-09-27
You totally missed the point of my post. Either that or you're deliberately being stubborn.
Linux has become the de facto name for the sum of the parts that make up a GNU/Linux OS.
To answer your question, no. I do not call it GNU. I called it GNU/Linux for a period, but I grew tired of explaining GNU to people that in reality didn't care what I was saying anyway. Those that care enough already know what GNU is, and assume you're talking about GNU/Linux.
Peoples' brains don't function like computers. You don't typically have to explicitly say every single word to convey a meaning. To use a previous example, how often do you go to the store to buy, say, Safeway brand cotton-tipped sanitary swabs? Oh? You look for Q-tips, even if it's Safeway (or Albertsons or Winn-Dixie or Shurfine or Fred Meyer or Kroger or what have you) brand? Wouldn't you be irritated if someone corrected you every time you said Q-tips, when they obviously know exactly what you're talking about?
Linux is in a similar situation. Nearly everyone (except people like you), "know" that Linux, when used in general conversation, refers to the Kernel as well as the userland software piled atop it (or just an OS as an inclusive entity, if they don't have that deep an understanding of the topic). It's not correct, but it's simpler and (most) people know what you mean.
Had Hurd taken off, People would likely be calling the OS they run Hurd right now, not GNU/Hurd.
Member since:2007-02-22
That's largely due to the bloat of GNU as compared to Linux. GCC, itself, takes up more lines of code than all of the Linux kernel.
Comparing projects by source line counts leads to misleading statistics.
Member since:2005-07-07
I would say that most of the source code in a distribution these days is tied up with the GUI desktop environments X-11, KDE, GNOME and perhapse a few others like Xfce, WindowMaker, Enlightment and ICeWM. Therefore does anyone think we should call it X-11/KDE/GNOME/Xfce/WindowMaker/Enlightment/IceWM/GNU/Linux!!!!?????
This is REALLY what RMS is asking for if you base the OS's name soully each project's contribution to the source code base.
Member since:2006-03-12
Before you slam me with another history lesson. I pronounce GNU as "New". I won't even tell you how I pronounce Linux, but was somewhat shocked when I heard radio shows pronouncing it a different way.
I refer to "Desktop Linux" as GNU simply because that the main license all this is under. Linux is simply the wrong term. In reality GNU is the wrong term, as my "Desktop Linux" has as much to do with the X11 license; a browser under the Mozilla License and a certain Office suite from SUN. In fact I have very little interest in the kernel.
Its surprising how much Microsoft got right with both the naming and logo of their OS offering. Linux and Tux are both, poor. I prefer GNU, but think both show little respect for what has become an OS which includes things like IM and a browser and a Media Center, which is greater than both Linux or the FSF. Although I personally cannot think of *anything* that is either appropriate to todays "Linux Desktop" or a logo to suit it, or that would last 20 years like that of Windows.
Member since:2005-08-11
I agree, the Windows brand is powerful because the name is easy to remember, logical and apt, and the logo is simple enough that it can evolve with the times, without too much modification.
I tend to use "Linux" myself, because even though the kernel only makes up 3% of the code, it really is the most important part, especially since the hurd is nowhere to be seen. All the other parts of the OS come from so many different sources that to refer to it by the kernel's name is consistent, if nothing else
Member since:2006-01-03
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Member since:
2006-09-27
If Mr. Stallman goes out of his way to call ordinary household objects by their true names, e.g. facial tissues instead of Kleenex, cotton-tipped sanitary swabs instead of Q-tips, etc.
I understand, and to a degree can sympathize with his cause, but he must realize that people are not deliberately throwing his philosophy in his face when they call GNU/Linux "Linux" - it's simply easier to say, and everyone knows what you're talking about, to the degree they understand or care. As much as it apparently makes his blood boil, there *are* people out there, myself included, that consider functionality paramount, with philosophical ramifications secondary. Plus, he should have picked a less awkward-sounding name than GaNoo if he wanted people to use it in their daily language. Linux just rolls off the tongue nicer than GaNooLinux. Linux may be just a kernel, but its name has become synonymous with everything that sits atop it as well.
Edited 2007-09-12 08:06