Tim: >> The majority will understand "Linux" as being an OS, the whole thing, >> one of the many OS distros that are similar to each other (*), but not >> understand it as referring to just the kernel. Björn Persson: > And then you'll hear arguments like "You think Windows is bloated? Linux is > *much* worse! Look, Debian is twenty-one CDs! Thirteen gigabytes! My, what a > horribly bloated OS!". You're out of touch. To the Windows user, bigger is better, more is better. Everything handed to me on a plate, is better. Years of the systems getter fatter and fatter, with nary a complaint but from the real techno elite, shows that to be the case. The general computing public with some ability to identify something that isn't Windows understands Linux is an operating system, and there are different distributions which include a plethora of software. The less-understanding public have never understood any distinction between operating system software and applications. They think all software is Windows software. And aren't going to care about a distinction. Does it run on a Windows system? It's Windows software. Does it run on a Linux system? It's Linux software. Software for Linux = Linux software. That's how the English language works. >> There's no lack of understanding when one person says to another that they >> use Linux. They mean they use an OS which has Linux at it's heart. > Let's see how much that statement really tells the other person. If someone > says he's using Linux, he's most likely using the kernel Linux and the GNU > core utilities. They probably are not. They're probably not using any command line tools, at all. There's probably a great many graphical tools that make no use of the GNU core utilities (which are a tiny part of the distribution). Heck, I just removed "ls" and Nautilus still shows me a listing of files. I can probably get away with removing quite a few other supposedly core utilities. You can argue all you like, but the war has been fought and lost. What people, in general, understand the term to be is different from what you want them to. That's not going to change, you're going to have to change. You're the small voice against the public, and all the big distributors marketing their release as a Linux one. And quite frankly, I'm sick of this GNU debate being rammed through the Fedora mailing list, it's quite inappropriate. This isn't the place for the FSF lackies to act like Greenpeace. You want the distros to change their naming, then hound those who're really responsible. Users will refer to the distros in the same manner as the distros refer to themselves. -- [tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.25.10-86.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
