"RMS" == Richard Stallman rms@gnu.org writes:
RMS> Your response makes some good points--however, in order to be RMS> a true friend of the FSF, you should not call the whole RMS> system "Linux".
Heretical as it may sound, I happen to believe that you can support freedom in software and GNU without nitpicking over nomenclature. I have been calling the OS Linux since I first used it in 1992, and shall continue to do so. I have also been a strong believer in and advocate of software freedom since I got my first GNU tape in 1988, and I still see no compelling reasons to associate a name with a concept.
Richard, I was (and, as would be obvious from the message you refer to, still am) deeply influenced by your original writings on why software should be free, the GNU Manifesto, etc. They changed the way I viewed software and, indirectly, the world. However since you bring it up repeatedly, I do believe that this insistence on the name of the OS is creating large amounts of mindless militant-ism, which is doing neither Linux nor the free software movement any good.
If the definition of being a true friend of the FSF is to `toe the party line' wrt the name of the OS, then I am definitely not a friend of the FSF. On the other hand, if being a `true friend' of the FSF means to write free software, to believe in free software, to promote free software and to advocate free software then I am one.
You decide which definition is more valid.
Regards,
-- Raju