[Fsf-friends] FSF-I as a unifying force(WasRe: Statement of FSF India board on recent incidents)

[Raj Mathur]

On Monday 01 Dec 2008, V. Sasi Kumar wrote:
> [snip]
> The only difference I have is about the name. I am not very
> fastidious about names. But by calling the group Linux User Group,
> you are limiting yourself to just one of the Free OSes (admitting
> that you call the OS Linux). I know at least one group that still
> maintains the name ILUG but has changed its expansion to Indian
> GNU/Linux Users Group. You know that FreeBSD, for example, is
> becoming popular, and GNU Hurd will some day (probably soon) begin to
> be used widely. The name FSUG would cover all such different flavours
> of Free Software. Of course, the name does not prevent you from using
> or promoting all of them! But still ...

Linux is a legacy hangover from 1998 when the group was first started, 
when Linux was the most visible viable alternative to proprietary OSs.  
I agree that we could call ourselves the I-FOSS-UG-Delhi or some such 
more generic name (GLUG and FSUG will probably be vociferously objected 
to by the open source supporters in the local community).  However, it 
won't really make a difference to what we do and what we want to do, 
and we may as well keep exploiting the brand value that the name (both 
Linux and ILUGD) has garnered over the years.

BTW, we don't limit ourselves at all -- our events, our meetings and our 
mailing all have have presentations, discussions, technical support and 
vociferous discussions on all aspects of free software, including most 
of the free OSs.  Heck, you can probably get better BSD support on the 
ILUGD mailing list than on any other mailing list in Delhi :)

Regards,

-- Raju
-- 
Raj Mathur                raju at kandalaya.org      http://kandalaya.org/
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