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10.15.20

Linus Torvalds on GNU When His Ego Was Still Smaller

Posted in GNU/Linux, Interview, Kernel, Videos at 7:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Source video (clipped from 1:26 onward, raw bits from Revolution OS, the documentary film)

Summary: More than two decades ago the creator of Linux explained the relation/connection of his project to GNU (which predates his project by almost a whole decade and also inspired him); nowadays he pretends GNU barely exists and the Linux Foundation pretends that GNU is just some part of Linux

THE Linux Foundation has just sold another keynote to Microsoft. It was advertised in a press release earlier this week. We suppose that this so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation fails to recognise Microsoft’s role in derailment of Linux, just because Microsoft now pays this self-acclaimed ‘Linux’ Foundation…

“They are, in effect, offering GNU training, but they call it “Linux”.”Not so shockingly, the ‘Linux’ Foundation nowadays loves Microsoft more than it cares for GNU. Microsoft pays. Unlike the FSF. Earlier today I spent two hours going through “LinuxFoundationX LFS101x – Introduction to Linux” — an online course that’s perhaps the most popular among the Foundation’s courses. I went through about 400 pages (lots of time spent on this!) only to find that this course is misnamed because it is mostly about GNU utilities and non-Linux stuff; I checked all the pages there (18 chapters in total, including pictures and videos). More GNU than Linux in there! They are, in effect, offering GNU training, but they call it “Linux”. They also add revisionism (like it all started in 1991) to the mix… and top that off with chapters about programming, networking and other stuff that in no way relates to Linux (not directly, anyway). They focus on systemd and GNOME, acknowledging openly that there’s a controversy around/surrounding systemd being favoured.

Here’s a screenshot with some annotation (chapter 15):

LinuxFoundationX LFS101x cropped

Two decades ago (slightly more) when Linus Torvalds participated in the making of Revolution OS — as did ESR, RMS, Michael Tiemann and Larry Augustin (now working for Jeff Bezos) — he made the above statement. It’s raw in the sense that questions are heard; it’s not quite the same as the film. The above is Fair Use, as per the following statement (attached to the original).

Linus Torvalds talks about Linux and GNU/Linux. Selected clips from Revolution OS.

Copyright 2001 Wonderview Productions

Note: This video may only be used for purposes such as criticism, review, private study, scholarship, or research.

What’s noteworthy about this section of the video is that back then (late 1990s) Torvalds still publicly acknowledged — however hesitantly and begrudgingly — the importance of GNU, the GPL, and the FSF. The Foundation called (or misnamed) “Linux” has worked really hard to purge all 3 from history, sometimes even under the veil/guise of ‘training’ (with exams, scores and digital certificates). Training people to recite falsehoods… █

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