Bulletin Issue 12

Issue 12 Bulletin June 2008 ries of short videos about GNU and Contents free software. The first video, which will be airing on gnu.org to coincide GNU is 25! 1 with the anniversary, explains free software to a new generation of people, The Wikipedia 2 and encourages them to download and Naming Controversy try gNewSense. These videos, coupled with a fresh new look for gnu.org and The Last Mile is 4 upcoming membership events in Port- Always the Hardest land and San Francisco, promise to make the 25th anniversary something The Free Software 6 really special. Jobs Page You can help too! We are looking for any relics of GNU and FSF history Volunteer Spotlight: 7 that you may have lying around. If Yavor Doganov they’re something you can email, feel free to send them to campaigns@fsf. End Software 9 org, and if they’re something a little Patents more tangible, drop us a line and if they’re something of interest, we’d love Free Software 11 to see them. Supporter The most important thing of course is that GNU continues to grow, and continues to stand up for freedom in a potentially hostile world. Twenty- GNU is 25! five years ago, the threats to our freedom came from proprietary operat- by Matt Lee ing systems. Thankfully these days, Campaigns Manager we have a few completely free dis- fter some difficult developmental tributions of the GNU operating sys- Ayears, this September marks the tem, but we must not become compla- 25th birthday of GNU, and we’re go- cent. Proprietary software in the form Happy 25, GNU! ing to be celebrating in style. We spent of popular programs like Flash and most of May working in close contact Skype are constantly seducing many with a well-known celebrity, shooting in our community to use proprietary the first of what we hope will be a se- software, and we must stand up to it, 12 1 first by installing and using a distribu- monality are the paramount concerns. Free Software Supporter tion of GNU that values freedom, such Calling the system “GNU/Linux” is How to Contribute as gNewSense, but also by encouraging more factually accurate, as the GNU As many of you know we recently others to do so, even if it is at the cost project largely forms the base of all dis- rolled out the Free Software Sup- Associate Membership: Be- of some convenience. tributions of the operating system. For porter, the Free Software Foundation’s come a “card-carrying” associate Our past experience gives us every example, GNU packages accounts for monthly news digest and action up- member of the FSF. Bene- reason to believe that we will succeed, 14.79% of the 16.5GB of source pack- date. Over the past six months over fits include a copy of Richard but it’s going to take a lot of work. ages used to build the Main repository 6,000 people have subscribed to the list Stallman’s book, Free Software Here’s to another twenty-five, GNU! of the gNewSense GNU/Linux distri- (info-fsf@gnu.org) and are receiv- Free Society or an FSF USB bution (deltad). They also constitute ing the newsletter. You can subscribe Key, plus a bootable membership 6.69% of the 27GBs of source packages and read back issues at www.fsf.org/ card and e-mail forwarding. To from which the Universe repository is free-software-supporter. Special sign-up or get more information, built. Linux weighs in at about 253MB thanks go to Karl Berry for writing the visit member.fsf.org or write to and accounts for approximately 1.5% GNU Spotlight each month. membership@fsf.org. of the source code needed to build the Main repository. Furthermore, Linux Online: Use your credit card or itself is generally built using GNU li- PayPal account to make a dona- braries and GNU tools, and on many tion at donate.fsf.org. systems depends on them being there. Phone: You can also make a However, it’s not just a matter credit card contribution by call- of accuracy as it relates to lines of ing us at +1-617-542-5942. code. It’s about the motivation and goals that got those lines written. By United Way: As a 501(c)(3) mentioning GNU, you are foreground- tax-exempt organization, the ing the ethical commitment its hack- FSF is eligible to receive United ers have to free software. The fore- Visit shop.fsf.org. Way funds. On the donor form, grounding of these principles is exactly check the “Specific Requests” This bulletin was produced using the reason why some would prefer we box and include the sentence, only free software: LaTeX, Emacs, elide GNU. While the code for the ker- “Send my gift to the Free Soft- Inkscape, GIMP, Imagemagick and nel Linux is distributed as free software Foundation, 51 Franklin Ghostview. ware under the GPL, the term “Linux” Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA The Wikipedia Naming when applied to the whole operating 02110”. system is often used as a branding tac- Copyright c 2008 Controversy tic by companies to reduce the visibil- Free Software Foundation Buy GNU Gear: Order one of ity of the ethical aspect of free soft- 51 Franklin Street, 5th Floor our T-shirts or manuals at shop. by Joshua Gay ware. Boston, MA 02110-1301 fsf.org. You can even get a Campaigns Manager It should be understood we are not (617)542-5942 copy of Free Software Free Soci- n the English version of Wikipedia talking about a single operating system info@fsf.org ety signed by Richard Stallman! Othere is an article that discusses but rather a very large class of operat- Verbatim copying and distri- Volunteer: See fsf.org/ the naming controversy over whether ing systems, all of which have at their bution of this entire bulletin volunteer for ideas. one should call the operating system core the Linux kernel and a suite of is permitted in any medium, “GNU/Linux” or “Linux.” In that ar- libraries, programs, and utilities from provided this notice is pre- Contact donate@fsf.org for ticle, some contend that Linux is the the GNU operating system. All distri- served. more information on sup- more popular and common name for butions of this operating system con- porting the FSF. the system. But when writing an ency- tain software from outside the GNU clopedia, neither popularity nor com- project and the Linux kernel. Further- 2 11 abstract algorithm onto a computer is — though on a significantly shorter more, the name of this system is not has made an increasing commitment to a loophole and not a real means of timetable than we had planned for. written in stone — for any given dis- free software over the years will regu- making an abstract concept physical— Now, in filing the ESP brief to the tribution you can feel free to rename it larly make statements such as, “Sun’s and was granted leave to present oral court and as we shift our strategic fo- and redistribute it under any name you GNU/Linux Offerings,” or “Sun brings argument to the en banc hearing. cus to oppose other legislative action choose. For example, I can call it the a comprehensive systems approach A joking title for this article could that might impose software patents, Josh kernel, the Josh Project, and dis- to GNU/Linux-based operating sys- have read “Microsoft briefs court to Klemens has decided to step down tribute JoshOS. However, I don’t want tems.” However, many of Sun’s part- End Software Patents (sort of).” Mi- as director of the project. Klemens to name the system after myself — I’d ners that distribute “leading, branded crosoft’s brief to the court said, “. a writes: want people know that they are getting GNU/Linux operating systems,” sup- patent should not be granted under GNU. press the GNU when “branding” their 103 if the inventor merely combined I always thought of the When the name is GNU, you distributions. well known computer hardware with options for reform of patent should hear, “This system exists be- Those companies that suppress the inventive but otherwise unpatentable law along two threads: cause of people who care about free- GNU name from their distributions software.” The brief is written in a roughly, the legislative or dom. Join us, value your freedom, are some of the worst offenders in not confused manner, describing how one judicial. The approaches and together we can preserve it.”1 We only distributing proprietary software, could possibly eliminate certain types are very different, involve will often refer to Linux in conjunc- but also openly developing, promoting, of software patents, if found worthy very different campaigns tion with GNU, because without it, and encouraging its proliferation. In of elimination, via Section 103 of the and campaign activities, the GNU operating system would be many ways, these companies are hi- Patent Act. This confusion seems to and require different skills unable to run on thousands of dif- jacking the free software movement for mirror the business situation they find for implementation. I pri- ferent hardware platforms. However, their own gain, and their suppression themselves in, where they want to use marily talk about the law the Linux kernel project itself has not of GNU is just one way of distracting software patents to threaten free soft- and economics of the mat- made a full commitment to freedom. people from the fact that they are un- ware developers but at the same time ter, but I really do think They have included proprietary soft- willing to make an outright commit- they are one of the largest targets for that these patents are un- ware in their project, so distributions ment to free software.

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