How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

It's working, too. I was talking to a friend of mine, a teacher, last year, and she was lamenting that her school had just shut down their Ubuntu lab, which she'd loved. A little later, she was drooling over some of the stuff my Android phone could do, but when I said something about Linux, she said, "ew!" It turns out that she had no idea that Ubuntu or Android were Linux, and her image of Linux was entirely formed from knowing a couple of ubergeeks who used xterms for almost everything.

'1. To avoid Linux' geeky image. Don't forget that many potential users previously had bad experiences or heard about them. Linux on the desktop has an image as a tinkerer's system.'

Yes I hope this is the reason to avoid the 'L' word!

The 'L' word has been taken over by the FUD merchants and is a *very* effective way of getting the Linux using community to collude with the FUD!
It has taken years and still there is no succinct popular word to own a Linux based operating system!

Uncertainty about what linux really means, is it the formal name of the kernel (yes), is it an operating system (well yes, sort of...), what traditions are implied, how can libc be for PC novices (I did not actually say that....), what is a kernel anyway (well it is like this - have you got a few hours to spare?).....? It is endless.

Meanwhile, the opposition silently gloat at a vast community with a lack of marketing appreciation.