Through my earlier mail, I have tried to raise following four points.
1. The spatial and historical variation of the message conveyed through a word should be taken into consideration while those are used in campaign for freedom.
2. 'Swadesh' is not a proper word to represent 'free software', instead 'taddesh' can be used which is synonymous with Gandhiji's 'gram swaraj'.
It is true that Gandhiji had used the word 'swadeshi' in campaign to boycott British goods during Indian independence struggle. However later Hindu fanatic groups through their vigorous campaign used it to divide people on religious line. Here it is unknowingly used by a person like Richard Stallman who himself is an evangelist of freedom and leader of a freedom movement for usage of software. It will in turn become a tool for right-wing fascist groups in the contemperory India through synonymous use of 'swadesh' and 'freedom'.
3. 'Free' is not a proper adjective to represent freedom.
As Ramanraj and others correctly pointed out 'sudandira' in Tamil and 'swathanthra' in Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit etc. are the best choice to represent freedom. However these languages altogether is spoken by only less than 25 % of the world population. So there should be better adjective in English itself.
4. The usage of 'Linux' for 'GNU/Linux' is justified for ease of use.
It is true that 'Linux' is name of a kernel. However it is more frequently used to represent the 'GNU/Linux' operating system.
Mahesh T Pai has pointed out certain links to philosophical documents. There should be timely revision of these document, then only the philosophy and practice of freedom will live for its purpose. Otherwise it may turned to formation of another cult.
Regards,
Anil (Appropriate Technolgy Promotion Society, Kochi)
3. 'Free' is not a proper adjective to represent freedom.
It is the best adjective available for the purpose in the English language, so that's what we use. It is also the term we have been using for 20 years, and changing now would be a major problem.
4. The usage of 'Linux' for 'GNU/Linux' is justified for ease of use.
It is true that 'Linux' is name of a kernel. However it is more frequently used to represent the 'GNU/Linux' operating system.
To call the system "Linux" hurts our work, and undermines all our efforts today, by suggesting to the public that the operating system we principally developed exists due to Linus Torvalds' apolitical engineer's world-view. That world view would never have produced a free operating system because it does not consider freedom a goal.
"Ease of use" can hardly be a sufficient reason for giving to another philosophy the credit for the work that our philosophy brought about. If you want to cooperate with us, please call the system "GNU/Linux" and recognize our work.
If you feel that you need a shorter name, the most appropriate one is simply "GNU". That is the name we gave to the system 20 years ago when we started developing it. It is shorter than "Linux" also, and shorter too. (In the FSF we prefer to write "GNU/Linux", partly to give Linus a share of the credit for the part of the system he added in 1992.)
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eiidp＠vsnl.com -
Richard Stallman