Re: GPLv3 comedy unfolding -- raya's research on "The Four Freedoms"

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> writes:

   >    In 1985, the FSF started to ship tapes and began to receive
   >    donations.  The GNU OS (to be known later as HURD) was
   >    progressing and most and more gaps were filled in its
   >    architecture.
   >
   > The GNU operating system was never known as the Hurd.  The Hurd was
   > a specific part of the GNU system, much like Emacs, GCC, etc.  The
   > GNU operating system has always been simply known as GNU.
   >
   > History revisonism seems to be quite fun, even for articles from 1997.

   [...]  If you look through old documents, you'll find that "GNU" is
   used as a project name consistently.

As a project name for the whole operating system, yes. UNIX was a
operating system, and GNU was to be a "Unix-compatible software
system".  Also "GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be
identical to Unix.  We will make all improvements that are convenient,
based on our experience with other operating systems.", and "GNU will
remove operating system software from the realm of competition.".  We
also have "When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be
possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development."
This is from the GNU manifesto.

   At the time frame in question, "operating system" and "kernel" was
   used pretty much synonymously in computer science circles.

Again, incorrect.  Maybe you are to young to remeber these things, but
the definition of kernel and operating system has always been blurry
in Computing Science circles.  Some have included all user level
programs in "operating system", some have just included what is needed
to get the computer working (kernel) in the definition.  But the GNU
project has consitently meant a complete, working system with many
tools similar to UNIX.

Cheers.