Heckroth Industries

GNU

Linux or GNU/Linux

Yet again an old argument discussion has reared its head and so I have decided to voice my opinion The discussion in question is “should it be called Linux or GNU Linux?”

To me the idea that I should call the operating system GNU Linux is wrong. The operating system is Linux, the Kernel is Linux. Yes I run a lot of GNU software on Linux, but I run a lot of GNU software on my Windows machines and no-one tells me I should refer to it as GNU Windows.

I also think that it is detrimental for GNU when people refer to Linux as GNU Linux. It sets up people to only think of GNU software if they are looking for software on Linux, when in fact there is GNU software available for most OS’s.

So in conclusion, its going to be called Linux by me for the foreseeable future. (Though it looks like my CMS has decided to call it GNU Linux via its tag ordering)

Jason — 2012-05-11