On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 2:01 AM, Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > On Mon, 6 Oct 2008, Chuck Cole wrote: > >> The KISS version of the name works for most folks... >> and was what was chosen first, >> and was chosen by folks who knew of Stallman (etc) when they chose. > > Well the first name used for the system was GNU, wasn't it? Then Linus > wrote a kernel and named it Linux, after himself, and said that it was > "nothing" without GNU. So why don't we call the system that includes the > Linus' kernel GNU, which was its original name? > > The fact that many people call it Linux doesn't imply that we shouldn't > call it GNU/Linux. The name serves a useful purpose by promoting an > ideal. I disagree. You can lobby for the name change all you want, but I do not think the de facto name will ever be GNU/Linux. It's like when saying "Merry Christmas" was supposed to be replaced with "Happy Holidays" to acknowledge non-Christian holidays as well. Some people changed, but most still say "Merry Christmas". For whatever reason, the Linux kernel and the GNU toolset is collectively referred to as simply Linux. It is far too late in the game to expect everybody to change (but give it a shot if you like).