this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It was started by a Mexican guy (Miguel de Icaza) who eventually went to work for Microsoft, oops.
Miguel also developed Xamarin and Mono (his company was acquired by Microsoft).
RMS labeled him as "Traitor to the Free Software Community" which has to be some kind of badge of honor, lol
He's also an egotistical dick who will do anything to try and "prove" he's right. And the initial reason I personally stopped using gnome.
Wow someone in charge of a fairly big project who is a dick. Stop the presses.
Eh, there are different kinds.
Miguel fit into the "pretty much just a dick" territory. Won't admit to mistakes or underlying issues, just talks about himself and how great he is to deflect criticism.
Federico is pretty awesome though.
Edit: If you weren't aware, Miguel also declared Linux was dead and moved to MacOS.
He's been pretty much a jackass for decades, his technical contributions and capability dont really change that.
why does it seem like it's a requirement for such projects?!
A dime a dozen in FOSS it seems.
Eh, I'd say thats mostly just the ones you hear about. There are some amazing, humble, brilliant folks in FOSS that no one notices because they just don't generate the kind of drama that gets attention.
My comment is mostly a reflection of people who are not project maintainers. FOSS users are known to be insufferable bunch. We tend to want to crucify people who are trying something different (just see the comments in this thread, for example). The ”community” is toxic, as the kids say.
Would you rather be a traitor with a life or some guy who was a good programmer in the 90s but spiraled into someone who eats fungi from his foot?
Not really into fungi or old free software fogies so I guess I’d have to go with traitor.
and Federico Mena, both have cool contributions to libre software.
I assume Microsoft hired that guy, because they started to be more towards Open Source and Linux.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Icaza#GNOME,_Ximian,_Xamarin_and_Mono