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Debian Lenny release planned for February 14Debian Lenny release planned for February 14Posted Feb 5, 2009 16:58 UTC (Thu) by jordanb (subscriber, #45668)In reply to: Debian Lenny release planned for February 14 by nix Parent article: Debian Lenny release planned for February 14
"Dilution" of a trademark occurs when the trademarked word is used to refer to items that are not produced by the trademark holder. For instance, when people started calling any photocopy a "xerox," that diluted Xerox's trademark.
In this case, Debian GNU/Linux does -- in fact -- contain the Linux kernel, so I don't see what the problem is.
When Linus Torvalds was asked about GNU/Linux, he said that Red Hat and SuSE aught to be allowed to call the operating system they distribute "Linux" if they so wish. By the same argument, Debian aught to be able to call theirs "GNU/Linux."
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Debian Lenny release planned for February 14 Posted Feb 6, 2009 12:22 UTC (Fri) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link] In this case, Debian GNU/Linux does -- in fact -- contain the Linux kernel, so I don't see what the problem is. Like someone else noted, a "GNU/Linux" distribution typically contains more Free Software then just GNU programs and the Linux kernel, and not all of these programs are as trivial as cat(1). Besides, many people simply call the system "Linux" and this, unfortunately, is how languages work. Accept it, or do something about it. The suggestion to finish the Hurd is actually a good one, but getting a major distribution to change its naming convention may also help. But do allow people to use the phrasing they are used to and care for. This may surprise you, but to me, calling it "GNU/Linux" would weaken the notion that Free Software is built on other free software.
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