Comment Linguistic totalitarianism (Score 1) 375
RMS' efforts to enforce what he deems the proper name for Linux remind me of France's efforts to enforce "proper French." Both will ultimately fail.
Language is fluid. It can be described, but it can't be prescribed. At some point, a word or phrase meets critical mass in a culture and it becomes the accepted term for some symbol/meaning/thing.
The word "Linux" is an example. A lot of people know that Linux is really a collection of software written by a large number of people, not just Linus. I'm sure that there are people who think Linus wrote the whole enchilada, or burrito, whatever your tastes may be. "Linux" is the accepted term, and it has a lot of inertia. Maybe if RMS had intervened back in the earlier days when there was only 100 users, he may have prevailed and we would be saying "GNU/Linux". But apparently the thought didn't cross his mind then or he didn't care enough, or maybe even then the term "Linux" already had too much momentum.
I think RMS should give up on his linguistic crusade here and concentrate on more important issues, like contributing to the ever-increasing dialogue between the "suits" and the rest of us in his decidedly unique way. Instead he wastes his time on a trivial issue of language, and we all suffer from the effects (it makes for great anti-open source propaganda).
Language is fluid. It can be described, but it can't be prescribed. At some point, a word or phrase meets critical mass in a culture and it becomes the accepted term for some symbol/meaning/thing.
The word "Linux" is an example. A lot of people know that Linux is really a collection of software written by a large number of people, not just Linus. I'm sure that there are people who think Linus wrote the whole enchilada, or burrito, whatever your tastes may be. "Linux" is the accepted term, and it has a lot of inertia. Maybe if RMS had intervened back in the earlier days when there was only 100 users, he may have prevailed and we would be saying "GNU/Linux". But apparently the thought didn't cross his mind then or he didn't care enough, or maybe even then the term "Linux" already had too much momentum.
I think RMS should give up on his linguistic crusade here and concentrate on more important issues, like contributing to the ever-increasing dialogue between the "suits" and the rest of us in his decidedly unique way. Instead he wastes his time on a trivial issue of language, and we all suffer from the effects (it makes for great anti-open source propaganda).
