[glug-t] Re: Topics for Next Meeting

> hello,
> we can take 
> INTERNET TOOLS ON LINUX.

> With regards..
> M.Balaji,system administrator,
> TIFAC-CORE
> SASTRA

Thanks for the topic - Internet Tools on Linux. 
                                       ^   ^
                                       |   |
                                      (2)  (1)

I would like to say something about the two words I have marked.

1) We at the GLUG-T call the operating system GNU/Linux. We use the term Linux
when we talk about the kernel. I would like to quote the GNU/Linux FAQ from
www.gnu.org. Please read the following carefully.

    "...Calling the system "Linux" tends to give people a mistaken picture of
the system's history and reason for existence. People who laugh at our request
probably have picked up that mistaken picture--they think our work was done by
Linus, so they laugh when we ask for credit for it. If they knew the truth, they
probably wouldn't laugh..."

"Why not call the system "Linux" anyway, and strengthen Linus Torvalds' role as
posterboy for our community?
    Linus Torvalds is the "posterboy" (other people's choice of word, not ours)
for his goals, not ours. His goal is to make the system more popular, and he
believes its value to society lies in the merely practical: its power,
reliability and easy availability. He has never advocated freedom to cooperate
as an ethical principle, which is why the name "Linux" is mostly disconnected
from that principle.

    Linus publicly states his disagreement with the free software movement's
ideals. He develops non-free software (he said so before a large audience at a
"Linux"World show), and even makes it necessary for fellow developers of Linux,
the kernel, to use non-free software to access his source repository. He goes
even further, and rebukes people who suggest that engineers and scientists
should consider social consequences of our technical work--rejecting the lessons
society learned from the development of the atom bomb.

There is nothing wrong with writing a free program for the motivations of
learning and having fun... [clip] ...Linus has the right to promote his views;
however, we think our much larger and pioneering work should promote our views,
not his."

You can get the entire FAQ at http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html.

2) Now for point two. We would like to discuss only about free software. When
people say "Software on Linux" or "Software for Linux", they include all
software including proprietary software. For us freedom is more important, and
programs running on GNU/Linux ought to be free(dom) in the same spirit of GNU.
We boycott proprietary software running on GNU/Linux. - Yeah! "Non-free software
sucks."

If you have read till this point, thanks a lot. Hope it didnot offend anybody.
Hope you will be speaking on "Free Internet tools for GNU/Linux" ;)

Regards,
Vijay kumar

Non-free* software sucks. - RMS
* 'free' as in freedom.


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