18 Interviews and Speeches

Interviews and speeches about your package are an important channel for informing the public about the GNU system and the ideas of the free software movement. Please avoid saying “open source” and avoid calling the GNU system “Linux”, just as you would in the package itself (see Terminology). Likewise, avoid promoting nonfree programs (see References in GNU Coding Standards) as you would in the package itself.

Many GNU users have erroneous ideas about GNU. Outside of our community, most people think it is Linux. Please use your opportunity to set them straight. Start the presentation with the answers to these basic questions:

• What GNU is (an operating system developed to be Unix-like and totally free software). It is good to mention https://www.gnu.org.
• What free software is (the users control it, so it doesn’t control them). It is good to state the four freedoms and/or refer to https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.
• What GNU/Linux is (Linux filled the last gap in GNU). It is useful to refer to https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html.
• What the GNU Project is (the project to develop GNU).
• How your package fits in (it’s part of GNU, and the work is part of the GNU Project).

If you feel a social pressure not to say these things, you may be coming in contact with some who would prefer that these things not be said. That’s precisely when we need your support most.

Please don’t include advertisements or plugs for any company, product or service. Even if the product would meet the standards for the FSF to endorse it, an ad for it is out of place in a presentation about a GNU package. Likewise, please don’t include company slogans. Mention a company only when called for by the subject matter.

A few GNU packages are actually business activities of a particular company. In that case, it is ok to say so at the start. Otherwise, please show that this is a project of the GNU Project, and avoid suggesting it is any company’s project.

If you are paid by a company to work on the GNU package, it is appropriate to thank the company in a discreet way, but please don’t go beyond that.

Before you do a speech or interview, please contact the GNU Project leadership. We can give you advice on how to deal with various eventualities.

When your interviews and speech recordings or transcript are posted, please tell us about them. Then we can publicize them.

Please post them in formats that are friendly to free software: not in Doc or Docx format, not with Flash, not with QuickTime, not with MP3, MPEG2 or MPEG4. Plain text, HTML and PDF are good.