4 ms·

I stopped reading when the author referred to Linux as an operating system.

acveilleux 11y ago
While it's only a Kernel, common, if sloppy, usage for the last 20 years has been to refer to any distro as Linux. And, well, the Kernel is really the only common things between the various distros these days.
emodendroket 11y ago
Wow, Richard Stallman's posting here. What an honor.
- knicholes 11y ago
  Is this sarcasm, or is Stallman really posting here? What is his username?
  - knicholes 11y ago
    I don't understand the downvotes. Is there something wrong with asking questions?
  - anta40 11y ago
    I don't think Stallman himself would like to waste his time on HN :p
    - emodendroket 11y ago
      Pretty hard to use HN through wget.
      - bra-ket 11y ago
        you can use lynx: http://lynx.isc.org/ http://lynx.isc.org/
        emodendroket 11y ago
        You could, but he chooses not to.
        JupiterMoon 11y ago
        I saw an article recently in which he said he'd started using a text based browser. At this rate he'll be using Iceweasel by around 2030...
        vmorgulis 11y ago
        "I generally do not connect to web sites from my own machine, aside from a few sites I have some special relationship with. I usually fetch web pages from other sites by sending mail to a program that fetches them, much like wget, and then mails them back to me. Then I look at them using a web browser..." https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html
  - emodendroket 11y ago
    The joke is that rms is really upset about people calling Linux an operating system and thinks Linux distros should be called GNU/Linux, a position he hasn't gotten a lot of people to support him on.
donuteaters 11y ago
Once upon a time, before RMS re-defined the term for his benefit, the phrase "Operating System" meant what we now call the kernel. You can see the legacy of this in Computer Science departments around the country where they teach an "Operating Systems" course which covers implementing schedulers, file systems, device drivers, etc... Maybe if the GNU folks could have made a usable kernel, they wouldn't have had to stoop to the petty tactic of trying to take credit for the Linux "Operating System" with all that GNU/Linux nonsense. However, clearly the RMS propaganda machine has worked, and now the phrase has a new meaning to the new generation... So feel free to not read anything that might contradict with your point of view.
- shit_parade2 11y ago
  Ritchie's ghost tells you to get off his digital lawn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  To be fair to RMS, commercial entities selling "Operating Systems" have usually used the label, even before RMS and the Free Software movement were widely noticed by outsiders, to refer to not only the kernel, but the whole package of software and tools sold as a package with it.
  - emodendroket 11y ago
    Who knows. I see ads all the time for the "Xfinity Entertainment Operating System" which as far as I can tell is just television service.
- bobajeff 11y ago
  What about Unix, CP/M, DOS..? None of those are kernels yet they were said to be operating systems and before GNU was announced. My question is has Linus ever considered Linux to be the operating system rather than just the name of the kernel?
  - 11y ago
TallGuyShort 11y ago
Yeah, whenever people use a term with a very slightly different take on the subtleties of its technical meaning from me, I dismiss whatever else they have to say.
- mwfunk 11y ago
  I do too! It makes me feel better than other people when I latch on to meaningless (in context) technical details and then publicly pretend that that invalidates not just some of the other content, but ALL of it! That way I don't actually have to read or think anything, and as a bonus I can humblebrag about knowing the "true" definition of an engineering term that I just learned myself in my undergrad OS class last year, and I can go show off my awesomeness by posting about it on HN! This a really good approach to life in general, it scales to all sorts of interpersonal and professional situations. :)
- pschastain 11y ago
  It's more than a subtlety, imo. A distro is an OS, and linux is the kernel. An OS implies direct user interaction; the kernel runs the hardware in the background. Seriously, take a moment to explain the technical shit in a way that someone unfamiliar with it will understand - 'linux is like an engine, and distros are like the different vehicles that use it under the hood. Anyone can use it, and even change it, but Linus has final say on the design of the official engine.' Was that so hard? Even grandma can wrap her head around that.
ForHackernews 11y ago
I prefer to speak of GNU/Torvalds.

While it's only a Kernel, common, if sloppy, usage for the last 20 years has been to refer to any distro as Linux. And, well, the Kernel is really the only common things between the various distros these days.

emodendroket 11y ago

Wow, Richard Stallman's posting here. What an honor.

knicholes 11y ago
Is this sarcasm, or is Stallman really posting here? What is his username?
- knicholes 11y ago
  I don't understand the downvotes. Is there something wrong with asking questions?
- anta40 11y ago
  I don't think Stallman himself would like to waste his time on HN :p
  - emodendroket 11y ago
    Pretty hard to use HN through wget.
    - bra-ket 11y ago
      you can use lynx: http://lynx.isc.org/ http://lynx.isc.org/
      - emodendroket 11y ago
        You could, but he chooses not to.
        JupiterMoon 11y ago
        I saw an article recently in which he said he'd started using a text based browser. At this rate he'll be using Iceweasel by around 2030...
        vmorgulis 11y ago
        "I generally do not connect to web sites from my own machine, aside from a few sites I have some special relationship with. I usually fetch web pages from other sites by sending mail to a program that fetches them, much like wget, and then mails them back to me. Then I look at them using a web browser..." https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html
- emodendroket 11y ago
  The joke is that rms is really upset about people calling Linux an operating system and thinks Linux distros should be called GNU/Linux, a position he hasn't gotten a lot of people to support him on.

donuteaters 11y ago

Once upon a time, before RMS re-defined the term for his benefit, the phrase "Operating System" meant what we now call the kernel. You can see the legacy of this in Computer Science departments around the country where they teach an "Operating Systems" course which covers implementing schedulers, file systems, device drivers, etc... Maybe if the GNU folks could have made a usable kernel, they wouldn't have had to stoop to the petty tactic of trying to take credit for the Linux "Operating System" with all that GNU/Linux nonsense. However, clearly the RMS propaganda machine has worked, and now the phrase has a new meaning to the new generation... So feel free to not read anything that might contradict with your point of view.

shit_parade2 11y ago
Ritchie's ghost tells you to get off his digital lawn https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie
dragonwriter 11y ago
To be fair to RMS, commercial entities selling "Operating Systems" have usually used the label, even before RMS and the Free Software movement were widely noticed by outsiders, to refer to not only the kernel, but the whole package of software and tools sold as a package with it.
- emodendroket 11y ago
  Who knows. I see ads all the time for the "Xfinity Entertainment Operating System" which as far as I can tell is just television service.
bobajeff 11y ago
What about Unix, CP/M, DOS..? None of those are kernels yet they were said to be operating systems and before GNU was announced. My question is has Linus ever considered Linux to be the operating system rather than just the name of the kernel?
- 11y ago

TallGuyShort 11y ago

Yeah, whenever people use a term with a very slightly different take on the subtleties of its technical meaning from me, I dismiss whatever else they have to say.

mwfunk 11y ago
I do too! It makes me feel better than other people when I latch on to meaningless (in context) technical details and then publicly pretend that that invalidates not just some of the other content, but ALL of it! That way I don't actually have to read or think anything, and as a bonus I can humblebrag about knowing the "true" definition of an engineering term that I just learned myself in my undergrad OS class last year, and I can go show off my awesomeness by posting about it on HN! This a really good approach to life in general, it scales to all sorts of interpersonal and professional situations. :)
pschastain 11y ago
It's more than a subtlety, imo. A distro is an OS, and linux is the kernel. An OS implies direct user interaction; the kernel runs the hardware in the background. Seriously, take a moment to explain the technical shit in a way that someone unfamiliar with it will understand - 'linux is like an engine, and distros are like the different vehicles that use it under the hood. Anyone can use it, and even change it, but Linus has final say on the design of the official engine.' Was that so hard? Even grandma can wrap her head around that.

ForHackernews 11y ago

I prefer to speak of GNU/Torvalds.