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<title>15 Years of Free Software - - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)</title> |
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<meta http-equiv="Keywords" |
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content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, freedom, Richard Stallman, rms, free software movement" /> |
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<meta http-equiv="Description" |
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content="Richard Stallman discusses the history of the movement to develop a free operating system." /> |
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<h2>15 Years of Free Software</h2> |
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<p> |
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by <strong>Richard M. Stallman</strong> |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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It is now just over 15 years since the beginning of the Free |
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Software Movement and the GNU Project. We have come a long way. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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In 1984, it was impossible to use a modern computer without |
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installing a proprietary operating system, which you would have to |
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obtain under a restrictive license. No one was allowed to share |
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software freely with fellow computer users, and hardly anyone could |
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change software to fit his or her own needs. The owners of software |
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had erected walls to divide us from each other. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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The GNU Project was founded to change all that. Its first goal: to |
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develop a Unix-compatible portable operating system that would be |
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100% free software. Not 95% free, not 99.5%, but 100%—so that |
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users would be free to redistribute the whole system, and free to |
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change and contribute to any part of it. The name of the system, |
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GNU, is a recursive acronym meaning “GNU's Not |
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Unix”—a way of paying tribute to the technical ideas of |
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Unix, while at the same |
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time saying that GNU is something different. Technically, GNU is |
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like Unix. But unlike Unix, GNU gives its users freedom. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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It took many years of work, by hundreds of programmers, to develop |
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this operating system. Some were paid by the Free Software |
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Foundation and by free software companies; most were volunteers. A |
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few have become famous; most are known mainly within their |
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profession, by other hackers who use or work on their code. All |
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together have helped to liberate the potential of the computer |
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network for all humanity. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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In 1991, the last major essential component of a Unix-like system |
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was developed: Linux, the free kernel written by Linus |
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Torvalds. Today, the combination of GNU and Linux is used by |
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millions of people around the world, and its popularity is |
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growing. This month, we announced release 1.0 of |
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<acronym title="GNU Network Object Model Environment">GNOME</acronym>, |
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the GNU graphical desktop, which we hope will make the GNU/Linux |
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system as easy to use as any other operating system. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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But our freedom is not permanently assured. The world does not stand |
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still, and we cannot count on having freedom five years from now, |
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just because we have it today. Free software faces difficult |
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challenges and dangers. It will take determined efforts to preserve |
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our freedom, just as it took to obtain freedom in the first |
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place. Meanwhile, the operating system is just the |
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beginning—now we need to add free applications to handle the |
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whole range of jobs that users want to do. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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In future columns, I will be writing about the specific challenges |
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facing the free software community, and other issues affecting |
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freedom for computer users, as well as developments affecting the |
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GNU/Linux operating system. |
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</p> |
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<div id="footer"> |
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<p> |
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Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to |
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<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. |
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There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> |
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the FSF. |
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<br /> |
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Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to |
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<a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Please see the |
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<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations |
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README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting |
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translations of this article. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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Copyright © 1999 Richard M. Stallman |
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<br /> |
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This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" |
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href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative |
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Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>. |
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</p> |
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<p>Updated: |
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$Date: 2013/02/09 06:11:05 $ |
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