Re: [DLC] Richard Stallman, presenting at UofC, Monday April 2nd

Matt originally suggested it back when I was president a decade ago.  I =

vetoed it on the grounds that "I refuse to be president of DUFOS!" =

(Really, that line is in the old mail archives from a decade ago, if =

anyone has them.)

We were originally DLUG, then DGLUG, then DLC.  The DGLUG name wasn't =

strictly "because RMS wanted it", but because we were trying to be more =

Free Software-supportive than Open-Sourcy.  We eventually changed to DLC =

because no one could pronounce a word with a slash in it.

No reasonable person claims that RMS is the father of Linux, and neither =

does RMS.  One could argue that he's the father of GNU/Linux, and RMS =

himself will give you a 20 minute lecture if you dare to refer to the =

entire system as anything other than GNU/Linux.  He was the founder of =

FSF, which has been a major positive force in the "software and =

intellectual freedom" movement (Free Software, Open Source, copyright =

freedom, open formats, etc.).

RMS himself is still nonetheless a rather unpleasant human being.  I =

speak from personal experience (I had dinner with him back when I was at =

DePaul as a student) as well as near universal agreement among others =

I've talked to that have spent time with him.

I would still encourage people to see him speak themselves, if only for =

the experience.  He may not be a nice person, but he is still right on =

far more issues than most would like to admit.  If you haven't read "The =

Right to Read" then you do not understand just how far gone our society =

is, in ways that RMS predicted 15 years ago:

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

(Incidentally, that "one Chicago-area university" mentioned at the =

bottom?  Yes, that's DePaul.)

Thanks for making me feel old, guys!  Now get off my lawn...

--Larry Garfield

On 3/13/12 12:37 PM, Matthew P Kemp wrote:
> Been trying since 1999/98 ... haven't succeed yet.  All of you =3D=3D no =
fun!
>
> --
> Matthew P Kemp
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 12:21 PM,<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> I like the name you suggest "DePaul Users of Free Operating Systems" I j=
ust
>> dont think I would be too crazy about the acronym: DUFOS (?)
>>
>> but that's just me....
>>
>> /*Joel Alonso*/
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: "Matthew P Kemp"<[email protected]>
>> To: "DePaul Linux Community - Discuss"<[email protected]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 8:48:12 AM
>>
>> Subject: Re: [DLC] Richard Stallman, presenting at UofC, Monday April 2nd
>>
>> Actually DLUG became DGLUG for a bit.  I am still voting for DePaul
>> Users of Free Operating Systems, but I keep losing that battle.  BSD
>> be damned!
>>
>> --
>> Matthew P Kemp
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 8:16 AM, John Kristoff<[email protected]>  wrote:
>>> Someone said that Stallman is the father of Linux.  I doubt Richard
>>> would even claim that, especially since he would insist you call the
>>> entire operating system GNU/Linux.  Nevertheless, the FSF has this to
>>> say:
>>>
>>>   If we tried to measure the GNU Project's contribution in this way,
>>>   what would we conclude? One CD-ROM vendor found that in their "Linux
>>>   distribution", GNU software was the largest single contingent, around
>>>   28% of the total source code, and this included some of the essential
>>>   major components without which there could be no system. Linux itself
>>>   was about 3%. (The proportions in 2008 are similar: in the "main"
>>>   repository of gNewSense, Linux is 1.5% and GNU packages are 15%.) So =
if
>>>   you were going to pick a name for the system based on who wrote the
>>>   programs in the system, the most appropriate single choice would be
>>>   =93GNU=94.
>>>
>>>   <http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html>
>>>
>>> Whatever you call it, it's an aggregate of many licenses, people and
>>> borrowed ideas from other projects.
>>>
>>> As a historical note, I recall this group once seriously considering
>>> changing it's name from the original DLUG to DGLUG or something similar
>>> to acquiesce to the FSF when it was made clear by Bradley Kuhn when he
>>> visited DePaul that RMS himself wouldn't come to DePaul unless this
>>> group changed it's name to put 'GNU' or something about free software in
>>> it's name.
>>>
>>> John
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> DLC mailing list
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/dlc
>>> Use the Above Link to Unsubcribe!!
>>> http://linux.depaul.edu/
>> _______________________________________________
>> DLC mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/dlc
>> Use the Above Link to Unsubcribe!!
>> http://linux.depaul.edu/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> DLC mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/dlc
>> Use the Above Link to Unsubcribe!!
>> http://linux.depaul.edu/
> _______________________________________________
> DLC mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/dlc
> Use the Above Link to Unsubcribe!!
> http://linux.depaul.edu/
_______________________________________________
DLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.depaul.edu/mailman/listinfo/dlc
Use the Above Link to Unsubcribe!!
http://linux.depaul.edu/