I have been a long time lurker, occasional question asker and I even attended a few meeting at the U several years ago. I have no objection to taking a vote to change the name of the group. I suspect it is the only way to end this eternal discussion. (If that even does it.) I will be voting for "no change" for several reasons. I do not like the manner in which this came up. I feel that it is a defacto blackmail attempt. The only way to "guarantee" that Mr. Stallman will meet with us is to change our name. I agree with other comments that this group was always "open" to all varieties of "Linux". A name change, as suggested, would appear to limit that openness. I have no idea which "flavors" of "Linux" use the GNU utilities and tools and which do not. Nor do I care. IMHO "discussions" like this only server to hurt "Linux" in the marketplace. Holy wars such as this and those between flavors of "Linux" alienate many people and businesses that might otherwise take a closer look at "Linux". Twin Cities Linux Users Group has been the group's name for a long time. It is what people who know of us expect to hear and look for. Brand names have great value and should not be changed on a whim. Finally, while I admit to leading a rather sheltered life, the operating systems that I have been exposed to have not, to the best of my knowledge, differentiated between the kernel and the tools and utilities that surround that kernel. DOS consisted of a kernel and other tools and utilities. Data General's AOS and AOS-VS consisted of a kernel and other tools and utilities. DEC's VMS consisted of a kernel and other tools and utilities. And so on. I, therefore, believe that to the majority of the public, including the majority within the industry, "Linux" refers to the combination of the kernel and the tools and utilities that surround it. That is true whether those utilities and tools are GNU or some other flavor. To me the issue does not warrant the attention it has already received. Larry Pint > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn- > linux.org] On Behalf Of Florin Iucha > Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 10:48 AM > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] TC*G*LUG > > On Wed, Oct 08, 2008 at 09:41:29AM -0500, Mike Miller wrote: > > > 4) Shall we vote by replying to the list with a msg header that > indicates the > > > vote clearly, or via some other method? > > > > Maybe, but a different system would be better. I'll look into that. > > Maybe someone else has a scheme for doing this. > > Please look back in the archives for the last vote we took. Just have > a form e-mail with the options, and have everybody interested fill in > their choice and send it to the list. Then, everybody can count the > votes with a few greps and sorts. > > Sorting through last e-mails on the topic, I found these options: > > [ ] No change (Twin Cities Linux User Group) -> TCLUG > [ ] Twin Cities GNU/Linux User Group -> TCLUG > [ ] Twin Cities GNU/Linux User Group -> TCGLUG > > Are there any other options that we should consider? > > Cheers, > florin > > -- > Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition. > http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163