--- In LINUX_Newbies@
>
> Unless one has been under a rock for the past several years most people are
> aware of the bad history between GNU and Linux Foundation. This has been
> exacerbated by the success of distributions such as Ubuntu which use the
> name Linux rather than GNU/Linux. Meanwhile Debian which calls itself
> GNU/Linux has fallen from lofty heights. This has led many of the users of
> the latter to cry foul and complain about Ubuntu, Canonical and Shuttleworth
> to anyone who will listen. Shuttleworth has tried to heal the rift, but is
> continually been rebuffed by Debian which sees ulterior motives in his every
> move.
>
> The FSF has recently begun to become more activist and take on the
> proprietary world head on with its Seven Sins of Windows 7 (
> http://en.windows7s
> the other side, Linux Foundation acquired the Linux.com name and has tried
> to sell memberships of its own. So far, Linus Torvalds is winning this war
> because GNU/Linux as a term is in decline and Linux is everywhere, but it is
> not over yet.
>
> RMS (Richard Stallman of GNU and FSF) likes to take shots at (in no
> particular order) proprietary software, licences other than GNU, Linus
> Torvalds, Linux Foundation, Miguel de Icaza, Microsoft, and Mono. He has a
> rather long list. He is a brilliant man who does not mince his words. Linus
> has crossed swords now and again, but more often than not ignores him.
> Miguel de Icaza on the other hand likes to take on RMS and does so
> frequently. RMS has called him a traitor to free software. RMS is a frequent
> subject of de Icaza's blog where he has been called a nazi. Both have ardent
> followers, but RMS's verge on having religious zeal in their desire to
> convert others to their ideology.
>
> Everyone has to make up one's own mind on whether to use GNU/Linux or Linux,
> to include proprietary software or exclude it and to use mono or not. Nobody
> likes to be told what to think which is where I find fault with GNU and FSF
> advocates. If Linux is about freedom then we need to be free to use what we
> want.
>
> However, Linux users should be aware of the controversy so that they can
> make wise decisions. Ubuntu for example includes Mono (Microsoft .NET by
> another name) by default (F-spot, Tomboy and Gnome-Do use it), but excludes
> proprietary things such as codecs and drivers. This means that Mono
> opponents (like me) must de-install Mono and find alternatives. People who
> may want to support free software may be unaware of the presence of Mono and
> the controversy that surrounds it. They think that Canonical knows best, but
> in this case I would dispute that.
>
> The issue for me has to be the way that Microsoft has foiled competitors
> over the years by playing footloose with standards that they set to
> destabilize and control. We are shooting ourselves in the foot for no good
> reason. There aren't flocks of .NET developers producing new software as
> hoped and there are alternatives to each of these written in tried and true
> programming environments such as Python, QT and GTK. Microsoft is strangely
> silent on the subject, but maintain that Linux violates its IP rights. By
> staying in ignorance we remain above the fray, but could be sewing the seeds
> for our undoing.
>
> Miguel de Icaza is not a traitor in the sense that he is knowingly working
> against us, but he is a Microsoft apologist and that serves their ends and
> not ours. There is much emotion on all sides, but not enough intelligent
> debate, IMO.
>
> Roy
>
> Linux: Fast, friendly, flexible and Free!
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>
Thanks, Roy! I'm sure that it's difficult for most users to remain neutral on this topic but your response seems unbiased, and you gave me a lot of info on the past and present. Hopefully the schism will close somewhat (the best we can hope for, given human nature) and the integrity of the community and the system itself will only improve.
Mark
Cogito ergo Linux
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