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Comment by _reality_check_ | Hacker News Reader

The name "GNU" and its abhorrent pronunciation has been such a branding failure on the part of the free software movent.

Yet, the creators continue to wonder why those outside the tech world approach these issues with a high level of apathy.

A movement filled with in-jokes and "geeky humor" will never gain the support from the general public desperately needed for real change.

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GNU and the GPL entirely changed the face of computing. Your branding expertise is untested.

20 years ago. Still waiting on HURD by the way and when was the last time anyone outside of the hard core techs referred to Linux as GNU\Linux

The point is that GNU has been wildly successful and has advanced technology on a species-wide basis. I'm not sure what more you think it owes you.

Yes, but the point actually being made is that the name GNU (GNU's Not Unix) is esoteric && dated. Notwithstanding the org's prior accomplishments of course.

When was the last time anyone outside of the hard core techs referred to Android as Linux?

The name has been pushed towards distributions and products a long time ago.

GNU has survived in spite of itself and not because of it's message. It succeeds because the products under the GNU umbrella are world class. Very few people and a good portion of the technical community does not subscribe to the ideology or is just not interested in it. Hell, even Linus isn't completely subscribed to the GNU philosophy. He made sideshows in Microsoft Powerpoint at Linux presentations in the early days.

Agreed, if anything they already guaranteed failure of the project by attaching the GNU to the name.

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