Bonum Certa Men Certa

Linux Would Never Have Been Mainstream Without GNU (We Could be Living in a BSD/UNIX World or Just More of Microsoft)



Summary: The licence crafted by Richard Stallman, as well as the GNU Project (lots of basic but invaluable utilities), helped make Linux what it is today; it's good that the value of the licence is still being recognised, but bashing "where it came from" (so to speak) is disrespectful and opportunistic because Stallman says less obscene and controversial things than those insults from the founder of Linux

IS RMS an 'extremist'?



No and it is not honourable to call him that.

Corporations want us to think he is. The Linux Foundation (little but a front of monopolistic corporations) pretends he does not exist and never did anything at all.

Hey, nothing extreme about individuals amassing $200 billion and still pursuing ways to avoid tax, right? Nothing 'sick in the head'...

"Hey, nothing extreme about individuals amassing $200 billion and still pursuing ways to avoid tax, right? Nothing 'sick in the head'..."Or a nontechnical Linux Foundation 'chief' taking (or rather raking in) so much money that the foundation he 'runs' operates at a loss.

At the moment we study thousands of old Debian E-mails from the 1990s (never published before); a lot of them come from Bruce Perens and so many of the messages acknowledge the FSF/GNU and RMS (a lot more than Linux and Linus Torvalds). "Open Source" didn't exist at the time, but they spoke about Free software and several times about "Open Hardware". Bruce lost his temper at one point and started cursing at everyone, albeit he then posted a mass apology to each person individually (no link as it would not be respectful to Bruce, whose latest initiative seems noteworthy and GPL-friendly).

"The system as a whole is a lot more worthy of the name "GNU" than "Linux", which RMS said was "not an operation system" (causing an uproar among kernel developers at the time)."Reading these E-mails very carefully (I've spent many hours on that already), it seems clear that in 1996 and in 1997 GNU was a lot more important than Linux, which had already been around for half a decade. The revisionists were beginning to call the whole system just "Linux" (the mailing list shows many disagreements and dissent, both from Debian developers and from the FSF). A couple of years later there was OSI and "Open Source" -- a term that Torvalds was fast to adopt because it helped bury the message of GNU and the FSF. As if they never existed and Torvalds was an 'overnight God' in his twenties.

Those who care about true history and not mainstream nonsense may want to read the pertinent E-mails, which we reproduced in the name of transparency (much belatedly, 23 years!). The system as a whole is a lot more worthy of the name "GNU" than "Linux", which RMS said was "not an operation system" (causing an uproar among kernel developers at the time). It's all there in the E-mails, with direct quotes from Debian leaders, the Slackware founder, and other high-profile people. We omit links intentionally as those might increase the perception of privacy invasion. We can produce the underlying evidence upon demand (we've taken notes of what's where exactly in these E-mails).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in French Media: Mass Layoffs (10% Culled) in Microsoft France
Now some reports in French
Microsoft in Freefall in Finland
Can Finland eradicate Windows from all its infrastructure, including core operations that are sensitive to sabotage by cracking?
Google's Chrome Passes 70% and Web Standards Are Dying
The Web is quickly becoming devoid of any standards
Slopwatch: Plagiarism and Ponzi Scheme, Bubble About to Burst Entirely, Admits Goldman Sachs
the hype that Google News and The Register MS actively participate and profit from
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
 
Links 02/09/2025: Oligarch Tech and Text Encoding Concerns in Ada
Links for the day
"Internal Changes at Red Hat / IBM"
It seems like quite a few people are leaving
"People on LinkedIn Saying That They've Left Red Hat."
We already saw signs of it a month ago and named some of the people
Gone With the BRICs (or BRICS): "Linux 8" in Cuba
GAFAM must be worried
Telecompaper Reports Microsoft to Reduce the Workforce by Another 10% (in France)
Imagine what this will do to staff's morale
India is Back to Windows 8 (Market Share Down to 8%) as Android Soars to a New Record High
For Microsoft, India is a runaway market
Links 02/09/2025: SCO Summit and Russia Suspected Of Jamming GPS
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: Mediterranean Marriage and Staying Connected at 35,000 Feet
Links for the day
Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
When You Turn Web Sites About Tech Into Political Sites
A lot of people fall into the trap of catering only for particular groups
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago