[Mageia-discuss] Linux is a KERNEL not an OS

Wed Mar 2 14:47:12 CET 2011

On 02/03/11 12:24, Wolfgang Bornath wrote:
+> 2011/3/2 Romain d'Alverny<rdalverny at gmail.com>:
+>> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 12:13, Michael Scherer<misc at zarb.org>  wrote:
+>>> On Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:29:09 -0600, Richard Couture wrote:
+>>>
+>>>> Throughout the pages at www.Mageia.org there are references to Linux
+>>>> as if it is an OS or a distribution, [...]
+>>
+>>> I would propose that if you wish to do it right, to first do it right from
+>>> a mageia point of view. IE, that you should first post
+>>> on the proper ml ( ie one dedicated to web, or marketing, I would start by
+>>> marcom ). [...]
+>>
+>> Yep. The point is relevant (common language use vs. precision) so
+>> thank you Richard for bringing this up, in a good way.
+>>
+>>> Second, if you really want to do it right, you should IMHO start with a
+>>> patch, [...]
+>>
+>> Although before a patch, the right message replacement should be
+>> defined in marcom first.
+>>
+>>> Three, [...]
+>>
+>> And please avoid the "politically [in]correct" thing, it is fuzzy at
+>> best and it contributes to defuse the stance.
+>>
+>> As a side note, you will note that the Mageia end-product is to be
+>> called "Mageia" and not "Mageia Linux" (neither "Mageia GNU/Linux" for
+>> that matter). If it does, it's a matter of imprecision we can fix. And
+>> we did launch the project as "Mageia, the new Linux distribution" -
+>> this was a temporary launch title and it had to be short.
+>>
+>> So the fix will be more in how we define this Mageia product as such
+>> ("operating system"? "GNU/Linux distribution"? st else?) and relative
+>> to what it uses/gathers (GNU/Linux indeed, but not only).
+>
+> As a side note:
+> I met RMS when he held a speech in Frankfurt. He told me that he will
+> not visit Linuxtag (nor reply to an invitation for a key note) until
+> they change the event's name to "GNU/Linuxtag". I mention this to show
+> his commitment about this point.
+>
+> But language and also expressions are a living thing. Today everybody
+> is aware that "Linux" stands for the whole package while "kernel" is
+> the current expression for the "real" Linux and everything else are
+> tools and apps, where the GNU tools are just one part. What we now
+> call "Linux" is far more than what RMS claims, it is not just
+> GNU/Linux. It is also Mozilla/Linux, OpenOffice.org/Linux, etc.
+>
+> My personal opinion on that: to really be correct we have no other way
+> to use either "Linux" or use [all tools and applications]/Linux, which
+> would be ridiculous.
+>
+
+I agree with wobo. In English, and, I think, in many other modern 
+languages, the meaning of a word is determined by common usage and not 
+by what technical experts think it should mean.
+
+The Oxford Dictionary, which (eventually) reflects common usage, and is 
+the nearest we have to a definitive source in English, defines Linux as:
+
+"an open-source operating system modelled on UNIX."
+
+"Political in-correctness" often results from failure to recognise the 
+changing meanings/connotations of words.
+
+Jim
+
+