: Re: [Fsf-friends] NEWSLETTER: GNU/LinuxIndia Dec 22, 2002

[Richard Stallman]

    This is a response from the team that's working to bring out the
    'LinuxForYou' newsletter in India. FN

This is a disappointing response, because the reasons are either
confused or not logical.

    > GNU itself is a shortform and hence could not be registered.

Is he talking about trademarks?  Whether GNU is a trademark in India
is not relevant to the question.  "GNUForYou" could be a trademark.
It rhymes, too.

    > secondly we would like to communicate with the common masses and since 
    > Linux is the name which he identifies .also linux is a representative of 
    > the open source community in a way .

If an error is widespread, does that make it correct?  Many journalists
seem to think so.

The idea of an "open source community" is also an error.  We, the free
software movement, built this community with our idealism; the open
source movement came later.  They are part of our community, but it is
unfair to name the community after them.

The so-called "Linux" system was developed mainly by the free software
movement, and we built the free software community with it.

Educating the public means setting errors straight, not repeating
them.  Educators must learn the subject in depth before they can teach
others.  I don't think this publication is going to do a good job of
public education about the GNU/Linux system.