Comment 1 for bug 341377
Revision history for this message
| Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson) wrote | #1 |
© 2004
Canonical Ltd.
•
Terms of use
•
Data privacy
•
Contact Launchpad Support
•
Blog
•
Careers
•
System status
•
bbfa235
(Get the code!)
The word has come to mean the entire operating system and associated packages in much the same way as "Hoover" has come to mean "vacuum cleaner" or "Coke" has come to mean "cola".
The use of the term Ubuntu in this context is inappropriate as it conveys that Linux is Ubuntu, which is no more correct than any of the other terms.
Moreover, even the Linux Home Page describes it as:
"Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world."
Wikipedia as:
"Linux (commonly pronounced IPA: /ˈlɪnəks/ in English; variants exist[1]) is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel."
I think this conveys the correct spirit and although there is a difference in so far as GNU/Linux is GNU tools combined with the Linux kernel, very few people see this differentiation and in the absence of a suitable word to express the concept of the system as a whole, frankly I don't see the need.