Why I say GNU/Linux

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Does the tool create the product, or the person who uses the\r\ntool?
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Should I start calling my comic strip "CORELDRAW/Help Desk" simply because I\r\nrely on CorelDraw to create it every day?
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As Rick's pointed out: false analogy. If you created a larger work\r\nencompassing CORELDRAW as a significant component, and the result were a\r\nsimilar tool, I'd say there's a fair argument for an acknowledgement in\r\nthe name. Likewise, following a format or protocol is different from\r\nincluding the product itself.

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I understand that the FSF wants people to acknowledge how important\r\nGNU is to Linux, and I understand *why*. Free Software as an ideal is in\r\nsome respects being attacked by its diluted cousin,\r\nOpen Source Software... and attaching your name onto the operating\r\nsystem that's "taking the world by storm" is a good way to help increase\r\npublicity.
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And I think that, in general, Free Software gets a raw deal out of\r\nthe whole thing.
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There are those of us who feel that Richard deserves the credit he\r\nasks for (not always in the most diplomatic way), and we provide it for\r\nhim.

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It seems that Stallman and co. are asking Torvalds and the rest to\r\nacquiesce to a BSD Licensing arrangement as far as naming goes. The\r\nrequest and expectation that one fulfill *more* than the requirements\r\nlisted in the GPL is galling to me, for pretty much the same reasons as\r\nI think the GPL itself is a really good thing.
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That's also not accurate. Stallman is asking (repeatedly,\r\nloudly, annoyingly, obnoxiously) for the credit. He'd likely\r\nget far more if he were more politic about the whole thing.\r\nBut he's not. <sigh>.

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That said, when I watched Revolution OS a couple of weeks back, I was\r\nstruck that what Stallman's been preaching about copyright control and\r\n"stealing from your neighbor" really is coming true, very much\r\nas he's painted it. If it wasn't for his wild-eyed ideas, twenty years\r\nago, we'd have none of what makes IT bearable for me now, and that would\r\nbe a very sad thing. Remember that of all the facets of free software\r\nthat Microsoft fears, GPL tops the list.

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For that, I'll give Richard his three letters and a slash.

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Richard Stallman is probably one of the most important figures in the history of computer software development, and the GNU movement is most definately one of the most important movements. I've no beef with Free Software at all, and I'd happily throw my hat in with that camp if I wore one.

But what this thing illustrates is something that's bothered me for a long time -- historically speaking, it's very common for the original leaders of a revolution to eventually be taken out back and shot, and replaced by businessmen who have decided to get rich off of other people's work. Stallman is in a lot of danger of having that happen to him because he has the diplomatic skills of burnt toast. And I think Stallman is more useful when he's not viewed as a raging crank, but the three letters and a slash are precicely the kind of thing that make far-seeing revolutionaries look like they're cranks who are losing touch with the rest of the world.

His shrill insistence on this issue is hurts him more than it helps.

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