[Pan-users] Re: OT: GNU/Linux Was: clearing headers?

[Yavor Doganov]

В Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:51:34 +0000, Duncan написа:

> Further, I've made it widely known that in general I couldn't
> legally run slaveryware

It is very good that you have set these principles for yourself.
However, saying GNU/Linux is a way to remind others about the goals
the GNU system set out to solve; the name "Linux" simply does not do
that since it is associated with a completely different way of
thinking.

> Yet I don't see the big deal about GNU/Linux, either.

Don't you agree with the reasons at
http://gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html?

> And no, I'm /not/ going to start calling my particular subset of
> what my distribution makes available
> Gentoo/~amd64/KDE/X.org/GNU/Linux!

You don't have to.
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html#many

> As I said earlier, ask any linguist,

There is an easy solution if "GNU/Linux" is so hard to pronounce --
say just "GNU".  I often do that when I refer to all GNU variants in
general (GNU/Linux, GNU/kFreeBSD, GNU/Hurd).  Besides, "GNU/Linux" is
not hard to say and write in the languages I know.

> or PR/branding person for that matter.

It is not a matter of PR, it's a matter of doing the right thing.  I
trust that the free software supporters are not going to resort to PR
reasoning, or argumentum ad populum.