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I know this is in jest, but because of the "hurr durr" connotations, only the absolute most bearded of free software zealot neckbeards are going to ever run GNU Hurd beyond simplytest driving it.

Open source continues its unbroken streak of showing us why naming things is important.



Right, which is why something with an offensive name like git could never take off.

Anyways, HURD's biggest problems are performance and perennially missing important features (2026 and no USB support)


Hardly any Americans would recognize “git” as an offensive word. That would not have been a barrier to adoption in the largest single software market in the world.

I grew up in one of the other ex-British colonies and we didn’t use “git” either. It’s a pretty localized word. Apparently it only came to prominence after the empire was already collapsing, so didn’t spread much.


Monty Python's Flying Circus spread it far and wide in the English-speaking world.

Was there any insult that Monty Python didn't use? Some of their gags literally involved opening up the thesaurus and reciting an entry. Most of their sketches involved hurling insults at one another. It was a Petri Dish of British slang!


Those of us who have been using gimp for 20+ years have learned to just accept it. Just take the name they give without complaint and like it.

Maybe the name was more fitting than I realized.


> but because of the "hurr durr" connotations

I have no idea why you think this. You might be terminally online. Hurd is just like "herd" because it's a microkernel, and hurr durr is some social media/gamer shit a tiny amount of people started saying decades after Hurd started being developed.


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I'll be honest by saying I for one have never heard hurr durr before. It might be a bit more localized than you think.

Frankly though it's unnecessary to be so personal regarding the people involved, or even the name.

Yes, at this point Hurd is no more than a curiosity. That has nothing to do with the name and everything to do with that we're not really looking for another OS. There are already a bunch of OS's to choose from.

For production machines you can already choose between Windows, Mac, Linux (plus ChromeBook et al), and even BSD. Within each of those there are several mainstream flavors, and other minor ones. No one is realistically punting for Hurd in any kind of "real" environment.

That said very minor OS's do provide interest to academics and hobbiests. New ideas and concepts can be tried before they get folded into main-stream OS's.


That seems like an awesome reason to use it in an era of most software is an AI slopfest.


Go for it. I'll probably stick to Linux, though.


it's GPL, not plus-N-word license.


GNU Hurd Durd?




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