Why no mention of GNU?

[J.B. Nicholson-Owens]

Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CreditToGnu
> 
> Please bang on that, and when Mako thinks it's golden, let's patch the 
> default package.

I couldn't figure out where, exactly, one was supposed to file their input to
the above text.  When I visited the above webpage, I was told that the page
was immutable.  I assumed that since the invitation had been issued publicly,
all were welcome to have some say in this.  I quote the text below:

> MarkShuttleworth is proposing to add this to the default Firefox home page,
> above the "Linux" entry. We probably also need a section for KDE.
> 
> The GNU Project
> 
> The GNU Project was launched by Richard Stallman in 1984 with the
> goal of creating a truly free operating system. Before that time, the
> ideas behind open source had never been formalised, and the emergence of
> the GNU project, the Free Software Foundation and perhaps most importantly
> the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) transformed the open source movement
> into a coherent project with a vision big enough to inspire generations of
> hackers to change the world. In a real sense, the GNU project is the
> catalyst that has created the present diversity of software alternatives
> that we all enjoy and which ultimately give Ubuntu its strength. When
> history is written many will claim credit for the success of open source,
> but there can be little doubt that a great deal of the credit is due to
> Richard Stallman and the GNU Project.

Clearly this text is framing the GNU Project and the GNU GPL in terms of the
open source movement.  Yet, the GNU Project and both versions of the GNU
General Public License predate the open source movement by years.  The GNU
Project began in November 1983, GNU GPL 1 was released in January 1989, GNU
GPL 2 was released in 1991, but the Open Source Initiative which started the
open source movement was founded in February 1998.  Even ESR's essay "The
Cathedral and the Bazaar" was first officially published at the Linux Kongress
in May 1997.  Hence, it is ahistorical to frame the GNU Project in terms of
the open source movement.  Such a framing gives the open source movement
undeserved primacy.

The GNU Project and the GNU GPL are not about "[formalising] ideas behind open
source", "transforming the open source movement into a coherent project", or
anything else to do with open source.  The GNU Project and the GNU GPL existed
prior to, and therefore independantly of, the open source movement.

The upcoming GNU GPL 3 will be the first revision of the GPL where members of
the open source movement have an opportunity to have some kind of editorial
input.