> at +GNU. Giving credit where credit is due is one of the virtues of open
> source programmers and the contributions by GNU software in Linux
> distributions should be acknowledged IMHO.
> One of the motivational factors of opensource is the recognition it
> provides. Being a gift culture (as put by ESR in his seminal Cathedral
> and the Bazaar) the more one gives away the more merit and status one
> gains in the community. Basically a system of meritocracy. And this
> cannot function without proper acknowledgement. ESR puts this more
> nicely in Homesteading the Noosphere IIRC.

Very true.. and I honor and respect your stand on this.

But we should be pragmatic, ppl got to know the FOSS OS as Linux and that's
what we have been preaching about for over a decade now. Tux became
industries beloved idol and they have heavily invested in bringing it
closer to masses. Linux became popular coz it got commercialized, why would
ESR want to ride that wave? I am not a believer in his philosophy, I may be
an ignorant utopian but my idea of freedom is definitely not GNU GPL.

Havent the contributors to gnu.org have given enough recognition to his
movement? for godsake we have "g" in front of every gnu software (ok I am
embarrassed that I missed the gnome "g" :-) .. when I read about the gnome
foundation I thought it was a separate entity) When it comes to
acknowledging ppl, I think BSD does a much better job.

> While there are many players involved in a GNU/Linux distribution, such
> as Apache, BSD etc. I think we could safely say that the major players
> are GNU and Linux. Out of which the GNU/Linux symbiosis is formed with
> which most of us are in love (and some happily married... with kids).

You are leaving out the possibilities of GNU finally completing it's Herd
kernel and Apache|Perl|IBM ;-) giving Linux kernel the utils&libs .. may be
intel will donate the vital gcc code [
http://www.intel.com/software/products/compilers/clin/ -- Linux kernel can
be compiled without gnu] and Ulrich Drepper will fork glibc [
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/libc-announce/2001/msg00000.html -- skim down
to "And now for some not so nice things"]
> GNU/Linux debate seems to me to be appropriate as in one sense it seems
> unfair that GNU is left out.

GNU couldnt deliver the most crucial component and Linux became it's
savior.. we all respect ESR and gnu project but GNU/Linux does not justify
anything. Finally I dont think GNU/Linux is marketable (philosophical
politics ofcourse ;-) .. just imagine the offspring of tux and ungulate for
the new logo..  hehehe...

regards,
Harsha

ps you might enjoy this one ;-) ,
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ahbou%3DBURLEY.96May30131208%40tweedledumb.cygnus.com&oe=UTF-8