Re: Nvidia and its choice to read the GPL "differently"

Richard Stallman
2003-01-03T20:27:45Z

A rather misguided person wrote this:

This is the Linux-kernel list. It deals with
Linux-kernel issues. It does not deal with
your continual attempt to claim some sort of
credit for the work of thousands.

He wants to give all the credit for the whole system to just one
person. I'm asking people to give a group of thousands of people
credit *also*. In which of these two alternatives does one person
claim credit for the work of thousands? The "Linux" alternative does
that. If he applied his own criterion even-handedly to these two
alternatives, he would call the system "GNU/Linux". But he doesn't
apply it even-handedly; he has led himself to apply a double standard.

Why does an intelligent person do this? He is clinging to the idea
that "Linux" is the right name for the system, and that requires
distorting something. Just as some people insist the Earth is flat,
or that astrology makes valid predictions, others believe that the
whole system is Linux. All of them have to find a way to deny or
ignore the facts in order to go on believing what they believe.

If you call the system "Linux", you are misinforming other people:
teaching them a false picture of the system's history. Some of them
may become so attached to the false picture that it distorts their
thinking. If you call it "GNU/Linux", this won't happen.