Re: Why "GNU/Linux" is not accepted: an observation

[Kaz Kylheku (gnu-misc-discuss)]

On 2019-11-07 14:36, Akira Urushibata wrote:
> The ordinary computer user who has been educated through Microsoft's
> marketing propaganda is likely to see the operating system as one
> entity.

Note that the ordinary computer user of some BSD Unix variant also been
thus "indoctrinated". The user space and kernel come from the same shop.

In fact, the whole darn thing coming from one house is rather the
rule than the exception, if we look at any computing era, any operating
system. Everything from Multics to TempleOS. :)

A typical GNU/Linux distribution include more than just GNU userland
on top of Linux. It can be argued that the name GNU/Linux is incomplete
and excludes contributions from other sources, the same way that
Linux alone excludes GNU.

> I notice that even among IT specialists who write books and
> magazine articles for popular consumption there are people who hold
> this view.
>
> The problem with the term "GNU/Linux" is that it requires the
> understanding that the operation system is not one single program but
> rather a collection of programs with distinct functions.

Of course even just a mildly sophisticated computer user knows that
a web browser or text editor isn't part of a single monolithic system
program, even if the pieces are all from Microsoft; users know that
there are numerous programs that are bundled together, which sit in
files and can be run independently.

What some users perhaps don't understand is that in the case of
GNU/Linux, the pieces come from all corners of the world, and are
connected to different groups of people, some of whom don't necessarily
identify so much with GNU/Linux. Their stuff is just used by 
distributions.

Ideally, everyone should be credited, but that can't all fit into the
name.