First, GNU was NEVER an “operating system”, because — despite what the GNU project claims — they never actually finished it. Prior to Linus Torvalds’ initial work on the Linux kernel, there was nothing but a large set of GNU “tools” which could be — and WERE — routinely run on other OS’s like Minix for example.

“GNU’s Not Unix” isn’t quite “vaporware”, in that they actually did produce a huge amount of stuff, but, let’s be honest: does anybody actually USE the “Hurd”? Stallman etc. spend huge amounts of time bleating about how it should be called “GNU/Linux”, and at the same time taking every opportunity they can in discussion forums to tell everybody else just how fundamentally unimportant they believe the Kernel to really be.

The thing that always got me about this was: if the Kernel is just some semi-meaningless little widget — as opposed to, oh, let’s say, the most fundamental part of the operating system — then why in the HELL did they opt for some kind of “truly revolutionary micro-kernel” instead of just doing something like Torvalds did.

If they’d bothered to get a COMPLETE Os released — not just a half-finished jigsaw puzzle which others had to finish — THEN “Linux” never would have happened, and the FSF would still be the “only voice” in the open-source/”Free” software debate.

And yes, Stallman does annoy me. His concerns are about as “valid” as what he called the “obnoxious advertising clause” in the BSD license.

What’s happening here, people? First Lessig becomes a whore for DRM, and now Stallman lurches back into the limelight coming out against something that doesn’t even exist.

We’ve been using “cloud computing” for YEARS. Everytime that some website loads a “java applet” on your system, they are “delivering software via the net”.

If the issue is “people not having access to their own files”, there’s a simple answer: it’s NOT an either-or thing. Dump all of your file-saves to a USB key. The scenario Stallman is whinging about hasn’t actually existed since the 1970s: dumb-terminals connected to mainframes, y’know?

Not coincidentally, that was also the period right before Stallman came to prevalence. There are other, much more coherent voices in the FLOSS — Free/Opensource Software Scene — but you pick Stallman.

Give us some Eric Raymond or Torvalds.

Lessig’s completely sold out, and Stallman’s doing his Don Quixote thing again.

This gives me an idea for a submission, actually…..

He prefers to call it GNU/Linux for reasons that are valid, but seem to annoy some people.

GNU’s Not Unix started in 1984.