Ubuntu's not GNU/Linux?

[Carsten Agger]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 03:51:18PM +0300, Kostas Boukouvalas wrote:
> 
> Neither "Linux" is mentioned on ubuntu dot com first page. I think an
> official direct question to Mark Shuttleworth, Jane Silber and Jono
> Bacon could solve the question and it could also received as a kind
> pressure to foster "GNU/Linux" in some FAQ. The reason, for this I
> think is that Ubuntu is both a trademark and a product (despite the
> fact of the existing community), of Canonical Ltd. and probably legal
> issues raise when a distro is supported by a company.

Here's  what it says on Ubuntu's "philosophy" page:

"Every computer user should have the freedom to download, run, copy,
distribute, study, share, change and improve their software for any
purpose, without paying licensing fees."

With that in mind, I think it's wrong to say Ubuntu does not support
free software principles. They do so with a twist, though, since they
include the free as in beer part in the values. But that makes sense
with their "for all, regardless of background" approach.

But it is true: They might credit Linux and the GNU project in a more
prominent place. Even so, this page is part of the official
documentation and is headlined "What is GNU/Linux?":

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/i386/what-is-linux.htm

I usually advocate free software for political purposes but recommend
people switch to Ubuntu because it's easy. From a software freedom
perspective, having proprietary drivers is bad, but having someone swith
from 100% unfree (on windows, with Office and Photoshop) to 99% free is
still a step forward. 

I prefer to see projects like gNewSense as frontrunners who are carving
out a freedom for the rest of us which will later extend itself to more
popular but not 100% free distros as Debian and Ubuntu.