What do you call it?

[k2t0f12d]

How do you identify your GNU/Linux operating system?

[jrusso2]

I call it Linux the same as Linus does.

[~LoKe]

I just call it Linux, 'cause that's what it is.

[voteforpedro36]

Debian GNU/Linux, that's what it is... but I only call it that about half the time.

[TeaSwigger]

Aptenodytes forsteri.

Rolls off the tongue.

[qazwsx]

Hmm my system GNU/Linux/X.org/KDE... seems to be quite long :lolflag:. So I am going to use Linux

[hhhhhx]

i say mint, people say sure... i dont think they know what im taking about :)

[Joeb454]

"That brown one" to my girlfriend.


Ubuntu to everybody else

[happysmileman]

Officialy it's GNU./Linux, but that;s a mouthful, so I just say "Linux", took me a while to chose which of the ones to vote for since it was 2 of them... I went with "Officially its GNU/Linux, but in conversation I usually just say "Linux"."

[Darkhack]

I say "Linux" but not for any of the above reasons. GNU is just one toolchain which can be replaced and GNU is cross-platform which kind of kills the idea of it being an OS. I support user freedom, but RMS is a radical.

[k2t0f12d]

I say "Linux" but not for any of the above reasons. GNU is just one toolchain which can be replaced and GNU is cross-platform which kind of kills the idea of it being an OS. I support user freedom, but RMS is a radical.

I love trying new software. Please post us some links to any other "toolchains" you know of that I can use to build an operating system with the Linux kernel.

[leftorvo]

linux, i see no reason to call it anything but linux.

[p_quarles]

I say "Linux" but not for any of the above reasons. GNU is just one toolchain which can be replaced and GNU is cross-platform which kind of kills the idea of it being an OS. I support user freedom, but RMS is a radical.
Incorrect. GNU is the operating system. Linux itself is only a kernel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU

[k2t0f12d]

*bump* for ppl who missed it last night

[oomingmak]

Options 5 and 6 are saying pretty much the same thing.

[k2t0f12d]

Its a scaled selection. 5 & 6 aren't saying exactly the same thing. There is a subtlety in the predications of either.

[gn2]

In conversation I use "Linux" unless I'm conversing with someone who knows what Linux is, in which case I call it Xubuntu.

(Pronounced ecksooboontoo)

[forrestcupp]

Officially, it's GNU/Linux, but I just want to say 'Linux' because I think GannooLinucks sounds stupid.

[k2t0f12d]

Officially, it's GNU/Linux, but I just want to say 'Linux' because I think GannooLinucks sounds stupid.

Which is obviously more important then caring about whether the people who did the hard work that you are willing to benefit from are getting the credit for which they are asking. Thanks for playing.

[Mike'sHardLinux]

Incorrect. GNU is the operating system. Linux itself is only a kernel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU

This seems to be a grey (or is it gray? :-)) area. But, I disagree.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/o/operating_system.html
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=OPERATINGSYSTEM
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=operating+system&i=48510,00.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system

An operating system is a program that manages memory, schedules processor cycles (handles processes, threads,...), file system management, etc... Yes, Linux is ONLY a kernel, but that IS what a kernel does.

All the GNU stuff are the applications (commands, utilities, etc..) that sit on top of the operating system. They are apps that allow the user to interact with the operating system.

[p_quarles]

All the GNU stuff are the applications (commands, utilities, etc..) that sit on top of the operating system.
The kernel is one layer of the operating system. It would be very difficult to actually -- umm -- operate the system without some kind of interactive interface, be that the GNU utils, Busybox (mini-version of GNU), or an alternative.

Same is true with Mac OS X: the Mach kernel is hardly the entire operating system.

[sandysandy]

in my opinion GNU and Linux are both important for the phenomenon that it has become today. just a couple of months back i would have been scared just to try it out. now i hardly use windows.

so Cheers to both GNU and LINUX !

regards

[rune0077]

Which is obviously more important then caring about whether the people who did the hard work that you are willing to benefit from are getting the credit for which they are asking. Thanks for playing.

Some "ordinary" folks has a clue what Linux is, but none of them knows (or cares) what a GNU is, so I have found it fairly pointless to use it in conversation. Also, to be fair, I couldn't care less myself who made my OS or whether they get proper credit for it. So I voted the last one, not because I don't know what GNU is, but because no one else I've ever talked to outside these forums do (nor where they interested in learning it when I tried to explain it).

[Mike'sHardLinux]

The kernel is one layer of the operating system. It would be very difficult to actually -- umm -- operate the system without some kind of interactive interface, be that the GNU utils, Busybox (mini-version of GNU), or an alternative.

Same is true with Mac OS X: the Mach kernel is hardly the entire operating system.

Technically, the system can operate without user interaction. :-) User interaction is the job of the user interface (commands, utils, gui, etc...)

[k2t0f12d]

The kernel is one layer of the operating system. It would be very difficult to actually -- umm -- operate the system without some kind of interactive interface, be that the GNU utils, Busybox (mini-version of GNU), or an alternative.

Same is true with Mac OS X: the Mach kernel is hardly the entire operating system.

There is absolutely no ambiguity about which is the operating system, and which is playing what role. No matter how you care to categorize individual programs, an operating system is a collection of programs, only one of which being the kernel. The kernel does none of the things that an operating system must perform by any logic, it only makes it possible for all the other programs used with it to do so.

Apple doesn't call their OS MachOS, and Microsoft doesn't call theirs Microsoft Kernel32.exe.

The poll is about what you do or don't call the operating system, the reasons for why you do or don't being somewhat incidental. GNU might not be an operating system in some other, more flexible, alternate dimension, but we are primarily concerned with reality, thank you.

If you are absolutely desperate for an excuse (although I fail to see why one would need to have one), do as rune0077 did. Just say you don't care.

[Mary.Riley]

I have a bad habit of writing 'Linux' instead of GNU/Linux... I need to work on that.

[forrestcupp]

Which is obviously more important then caring about whether the people who did the hard work that you are willing to benefit from are getting the credit for which they are asking. Thanks for playing.

And you're obviously just trolling with this thread instead of really caring about what people's opinions are.

If it's all about credit, then I guess these people aren't really as selfless as they want people to believe. I use lots of software created by lots of people and they don't put their names in the titles of their software because they want credit. But when I use the software and click About in the Help menu, I can find out all about who was behind what I'm using. When I talk about Windows, I call my OS 'Vista'. I don't call it 'Microsoft Windows Vista' because MS needs credit, and they're not ripping my head off because I don't put 'Microsoft' in the name every time I say it.

[k2t0f12d]

And you're obviously just trolling with this thread instead of really caring about what people's opinions are.

Which is why I started a poll to find out what people's opinion are. :shock:


If it's all about credit, then I guess these people aren't really as selfless as they want people to believe. I use lots of software created by lots of people and they don't put their names in the titles of their software because they want credit. But when I use the software and click About in the Help menu, I can find out all about who was behind what I'm using. When I talk about Windows, I call my OS 'Vista'. I don't call it 'Microsoft Windows Vista' because MS needs credit, and they're not ripping my head off because I don't put 'Microsoft' in the name every time I say it.

No one is ripping your head off, unless posting satirical examples why your ideas are questionable is decapitating. Once again, having already explained this to you in this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4292950&postcount=18) thread, any Windows operating system is a collection of software that is developed entirely by one entity who is getting the credit for their work under one name. Since I have started using Ubuntu Forums, it has been you who has jumped onto posts I have made, and threads I have started and then become belligerent, not the other way around. You, sir, are behaving like the troll.

:lolflag:

[p_quarles]

Let's keep it civil here.

[forrestcupp]

Since I have started using Ubuntu Forums, it has been you who has jumped onto posts I have made, and threads I have started and then become belligerent, not the other way around. You, sir, are behaving like the troll.


I'm sorry that I did that in the other thread. You are right about that. But in this thread, I was just participating in the poll and posting my opinion. Maybe you replied to my opinion in the fashion you did because of the way I posted in the last thread, I don't know.

But I'd like to appreciate what people are doing for me in other ways than putting GNU on the front of Linux. So we'll just have to disagree about that one. That really doesn't mean I don't appreciate what the FSF has done. I also appreciate the hard work that a lot of developers have done that aren't a part of the FSF, but they chose to use the GPL license. I'm just definitely not ever going to be a Free Software extremist.

[k2t0f12d]

@ forrestcupp
No worries, its all good. This is a definitely a better board because of people like you.

Cheers! :D

[leftorvo]

Which is obviously more important then caring about whether the people who did the hard work that you are willing to benefit from are getting the credit for which they are asking. Thanks for playing.

"what OS do you use?"

"GNU/Linux/XFCE/Firefox/Azureus/Thunar/Gnome-Terminal/Openbox/Perlpanel/XFWM..."

"Stop, what are you doing?"

"I had to give them credit"

It's just odd :)

[k2t0f12d]

"what OS do you use?"

"GNU/Linux/XFCE/Firefox/Azureus/Thunar/Gnome-Terminal/Openbox/Perlpanel/XFWM..."

"Stop, what are you doing?"

"I had to give them credit"

I already addressed this sophomoronic example in another thread.


GNU doesn't only comprise operating system software; however, other then the kernel it does comprise all of the operating system software...You cannot run Linux at all without GNU, although you could so without any of other software you mentioned in your example. Your opinion is contrived, misleading, and inapplicable simply because it requires the listener ignore the glaring difference in importance between applications, drivers, and operating systems programs. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4292950&postcount=18)

[macogw]

"GNU/Linux" takes too long to say. I just say "Linux."

[k2t0f12d]

Didn't have enough slots to put in a "takes too long to say" selection. Sorry. :roll:

[popch]

any Windows operating system is a collection of software that is developed entirely by one entity who is getting the credit for their work under one name.

Not accounting for the parts they bought from third parties, of course.

[popch]

"GNU/Linux" takes too long to say. I just say "Linux."


Didn't have enough slots to put in a "takes too long to say" selection. Sorry. :roll:


GNU/Linux is a mouthful, I just say "Linux".
will do fine for that purpose, I think.

[k2t0f12d]

Woo hoo! 100 votes...keep 'em coming\\:D/

[k2t0f12d]

*bump* like a bad penny
have until Feb 22nd to vote

Cheers!

[Linuxratty]

"GNU/Linux" takes too long to say. I just say "Linux."

Same here..I just say:"I use Linux."

[Christmas]

Officially its GNU/Linux, but in conversation I usually just say "Linux".

[Erik Trybom]

I call it Linux. GNU/Linux is a mouthful, AND it sounds awkward.

I understand what the issue is, but I actually think using the "wrong" name makes sense in an odd kind of way. The whole point of the GPL is to make it possible for people to share software, to contribute and to rewrite it. The software evolves through the contributions of different people. Having the name changed along the way may feel unfair, but it's in the spirit of free software. There is nothing in the GPL that makes you state whose work you build upon and to whom the credit belongs. A recent example of this is Debian's rebranding of Firefox to Iceweasel.

One can't have the cake and eat it too. I think the FSF should be proud of what they've done and acknowledge that when you collaborate, you don't always get the credit you deserve. There are better ways to point out the importance of free software and the history of GNU than to keep insisting on using an awkward name for Linux.

[k2t0f12d]

I call it Linux. GNU/Linux is a mouthful, AND it sounds awkward.

I understand what the issue is, but I actually think using the "wrong" name makes sense in an odd kind of way. The whole point of the GPL is to make it possible for people to share software, to contribute and to rewrite it. The software evolves through the contributions of different people. Having the name changed along the way may feel unfair, but it's in the spirit of free software. There is nothing in the GPL that makes you state whose work you build upon and to whom the credit belongs. A recent example of this is Debian's rebranding of Firefox to Iceweasel.

One can't have the cake and eat it too. I think the FSF should be proud of what they've done and acknowledge that when you collaborate, you don't always get the credit you deserve. There are better ways to point out the importance of free software and the history of GNU than to keep insisting on using an awkward name for Linux.

For clarification, the FSF are asking for credit, but not demanding it. Frequently when giving his lecture, Free Software, Free Society, Stallman makes the distinction that the credit they are asking for is fair, but not only for credit's sake. Many people who use a GNU/Linux system are not exposed to the fact that it was the hard work, philosophy, licensing, and goodwill of the GNU folks and the FSF that made their system possible, not the Linux kernel.

EDIT: Iceweasel had to be rebranded. It wasn't an arbitrary switch on the part of Debian. They changed the code in a way that is not supported by the Mozilla Foundation who demands that their branding be removed under such circumstances.

[Kvark]

Personally I feel that the most important parts of the OS are in order: The GNU GPL license, the GNU toolchain, the GNu Object Model Environment and then the Linux kernel on 4th place so I should call it GNU since "GNU slash Linux" is too long. But I call it Linux anyway because that sounds cool while GNU sounds stupid and so does FSF's other brand names like FSF, Hurd, Gimp and Gnome too. In the case of brand names the coolest one is the best tool for the job so if FSF wants people to use their names then they should get a marketing guy to come up with names that are cool buzzwords.

[k2t0f12d]

That might be relevent if Free Software distribution were based on any of the factors with which proprietary software is distributed. It isn't. There are next to no television ads, billboards, or posters. There is also absolutely no need to attempt to convince anyone to part with their money to use it instead of another program, because the user is permitted to pay what they choose to pay for it. Free Software's distribution is determined by 1) availability, which is ensured both by its license and by 2) utility, it does the job that it is designed to do well.

GIMP is a ridiculously cool name for a program BTW.

[k2t0f12d]

*bump* for votes

[Erik Trybom]

For clarification, the FSF are asking for credit, but not demanding it. Frequently when giving his lecture, Free Software, Free Society, Stallman makes the distinction that the credit they are asking for is fair, but not only for credit's sake. Many people who use a GNU/Linux system are not exposed to the fact that it was the hard work, philosophy, licensing, and goodwill of the GNU folks and the FSF that made their system possible, not the Linux kernel.

EDIT: Iceweasel had to be rebranded. It wasn't an arbitrary switch on the part of Debian. They changed the code in a way that is not supported by the Mozilla Foundation who demands that their branding be removed under such circumstances.
I acknowledge that the credit they're asking for is fair. I just don't think insisting on a different name for Linux is the best way to spread the word about free software. Especially not when that name is a silly acronym.

I know why Firefox was rebranded, and I'm OK with it (running Debian myself). I just wanted to make the point that a name change is completely legal under the GPL.

[spupy]

If i started saying GNU/Linux, it will make me look even more geekier! ;)

[k2t0f12d]

If i started saying GNU/Linux, it will make me look even more geekier! ;)

Crap, I wished I had put that one in. :D

[k2t0f12d]

*bump* last time vote vote vote :D

[Circus-Killer]

well, its a bit of a tricky one. always been a topic for debate.

first of all, an OS cannot exist without a kernel. however, it also cannot exist with only a kernel and no other software. so both the kernel and the other system software fit together to make the OS, thus we have GNU/Linux.

however, when someone refers to linux, most of the time they are talking about gnu/linux and not the linux kernel. this is done out of convienience i assume, as another post stated, he doesnt call his machine gnu/linux/x/gnome/ubuntu. he simply refers to it as linux.

essentially, the correct term is far too clumsy, and really, who cares about symantics. granted, richard stallman does. but as great as the guy has been for open source, he is still far too fanatical and doesnt have any balance to his philosophies.

anyways, call it what you will, for the most part we will know what you talking about.

[koleoptero]

Officially its GNU/Linux, but in conversation I usually just say "Ooboontoo". :popcorn:

[steeleyuk]

I just say Ubuntu if I'm talking about the OS. If I'm talking about more than one distro, I just use Linux.

[argie]

I was laughing at the first one and voted without switching to #4. Ah, such is life. The reason I call it GNU/Linux is that the FSF has been very important to the whole Free Software thing [1] and I just thought it's worth mentioning that.

[1] Yeah, I know, it came out funny, but I was talking about the idea of sharing ideas and stuff. Sometimes harder to type out stuff than just speak it.

[SunnyRabbiera]

Just linux mostly, though sometimes i refer to it as the version of linux I am using like Linux Mint or Ubuntu Linux and et cetera

[aaaantoine]

In conversation, it's Linux.

I generally understand "Linux" to refer to the entire OS, including GNU, X, GNOME, KDE, Bash, Python, and everything else that is generally Linux only. If I want to refer specifically to the kernel, then I will spell out, "the Linux kernel," or even just "the kernel".

GNU is part of the whole Linux package. However, that does not exclude GNU from being used with other OSes. I've downloaded GNU tools for Windows before. If I slipstream the entire GNU toolbox into a Windows install CD, should I call that CD GNU/Windows?

[Pekkalainen]

I mostly say GNU/Linux because that's what it is and it's those 2 projects that deserve the most credit. Occasionally I just say Linux to old people that don't have a clue in either case to make it sound less geeky.