Re: [Fsuk-manchester] GNU/Linux and free speech

[Joshua Gay]

> 
> Not only are there non-GNU free software operating systems, there are
> Linux-based non-GNU operating systems. I'll happily call my desktop,
> server etc. a GNU/Linux system, but to refer to *all* Linux-based
> systems as GNU/Linux, even if they don't use the GNU utilities, is
> incorrect and disingenious.

I agree with this. There are non-GNU based operating systems that use
the Linux kernel. There aren't a lot of GNU based operating systems
that do not use the Linux kernel. It will be interesting if over time
we have a new kernel, but everything else seems the same -- will
people still call it "Linux"? Is "Linux," really more than just a
kernel in the hearts and minds of the world?

In the case of source code, data structures, design patterns,
posix-like compliance, et al, we know what Linux is, and we also know
what each of the GNU tools and libraries are. However, if we define
them by that alone, or based on the name of the project maintainer, in
either case we would have projects that will last as long as a group
of people are willing to maintain them and/or use them. For instance,
if a fundamentally different kernel is produced from scratch, what
would compel the creator to use the name Linux? If I created a new
kernel, maybe I would name it Gaylux, since everyone would remember
that for one reason or another :-) 

However, in the case of the GNU project, I believe it is important to
use the GNU name, and not so that people understand who wrote the
source code, but because it connects intimately with two things: 1) a
philosophy, and 2) a community. I am not a person that feels a great
sense of pride toward anything in life, but if I wrote a new piece of
free software, I would be proud to have the GNU name attached to
it. This is because to me, GNU stands for a lot more than the sum of
its collected software parts --- it embodies the ethical underpinnings
of the free software movement. With GNU, we value programs that can
work together, we value source code that has documentation and
documentation systems, and we value the fact that every user of the
software is treated as a developer.

With GNU we care that the software carries to every user the freedom
to use it however they wish and that they can learn from this and
understand how it works. We value that it can be shared with ones
neighbor, and friend. And lastly, we value freedom three, that each of
us can change it and redistribute those changes so that the whole
_community_ benefits.

In 1887 the German sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies introduced two
categories, gesellschaft and gemeinschaft, each describing two normal
types of human association. 

Tonnies, looked at the category of gemeinschaft, which roughly
translates to "community," an association where individuals orient to
the interest of the larger association as much (or even more so) than
their own self-interest. Furthermore, gemeinschaft individuals are
bound by shared beliefs, values, and mores, and thee may be kinships
of mind, of place, of time, and can be disparate or globally
distributed. Individual freedom and liberty is valued, but it is
valued most when it maximizes the freedom of every individual within
the group.

On the other end of the specturm, Tonnies describes the gesselschaft,
where the larger association amongst people is never more important
than the self-interest of each individual. These associations of
people are not community like, but rather, they are defined by
individuals acting out roles, making agreements and contracts, and in
many cases they may not even care much about the reason they are
associating or working together. Gesellschaft is usually secondary,
impersonal relationships, and because of this, the attitudes and mores
and behavior of the individuals is often not aggreed upon. People are
easily offended, rudeness and personality conflicts can arise when
boundaries are of personal vs. professional are crossed. As Tonnies
himself puts it, "[The gessellschaft] supreme rule is politeness. It
consists of an exchange of words and courtesies in which everyone
seems to be present for the good of everyone else and everyone seems
to consider everyone else as his equal, whereas in reality everyone is
thinking of himself and trying to bring to the fore his imoprtance and
advantages in competition with the others," -- that is, the "formless
contracts" between individuals.

If I had to characterize the associations that I feel embody the GNU
community, and free software groups like those who are on this list, I
would say that they are more Gemeinschaft than they are
Gesellschaft. If I had to describe the associations amongst many of
those in the open source world or within projects like Linux, I would
say that they learn on the side of Gesellschaft. Both types of
projects need a certain amount of Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft, but
in my life and work, I hope to enrich it through more Gemeinschaft
like associations --- ones in which those who I am working with share
a sense of values and of purpose. My life is full of gesellschaft
associations, and I could care less if they come and go or if they
last a week or a decade. This includes my relationship to the Linux
kernel. However, that is not the case with GNU. I want it to be
lasting, and I want the idea behind it to permeate the work I do
related to software, whether it is using a GNU license on a work, or
using the GNU tools, or talking with free software hackers, or writing
documentation, or helping to edit an essay that will be in the
philosophy section of gnu.org. I like that the GNU project, its
mission, and the individuals that once were or currently are
contributing to it are doing so for a purpose greater than themselves,
to something which is non-ephemeral and that ultimately effects our
lives and the contributes to the betterment of all of society.

So, sure, there is software out there that lacks the GNU system. But
who cares. Sure we need to use it, and sure gesselschaft connections
are necessary in life. But, to me, the question is: what are the ways
we can make those associates more gemeinschaft? I don't know the
answer, but I do know who to ask -- one place I'd start is to talk to
people who care about free software and who care about GNU and what it
represents. And when I have an opportunity, in life, I will try to
mention GNU, what the project is striving to do, how the work it has
done in licensing, in community building, and in many other ways has
spread out into the world in many wonderful and beautiful ways.