Why Linux is more Popular than GNU

An article written by Christopher Tozzi, published in thevarguy investigates reason for popularity and wide acceptability of Linux project initiated by Linux Torvalds over GNU project lead by Free Software Foundation. In author's opinion, GNU project is less popular because of uncompromising nature of Richard Stallman, the founder of Free Software Foundation, with his ideology.

If you ask a lot of people why Linus Torvalds and the Linux kernel that he wrote became one of the most prominent open source projects of all time, while Richard Stallman's GNU project has received much less attention beyond hacker circles, they'll tell you the difference has to do with Stallman's excessive commitment to an uncompromising ideology. Is that really accurate?

Below, I'd like to make the case for a more nuanced interpretation of Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, which were more pragmatic than many observers have appreciated.

First, let's take a look at what people have said about Stallman and the GNU project that he started in 1984. (He launched the Free Software Foundation a year later.) Here's what Torvalds wrote about Stallman in his 2001 autobiography:
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