Can someone please explain the GNU Project in Layman's terms please?
Im trying to get a general understanding put simply.
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The project is the collected efforts many people to create a robust computer operating system and other software that is in the public domain.
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For a quick summary of just about anything, Wikipedia is a great resource. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Project In short, Richard M. Stallman, frustrated by the inflexible, fractured, proprietary nature of Unix (and other) software at that time, set out in 1984 to create a completely free alternative. He also created a new licensing system to ensure that the code for this system will always be free according to his standards: the GPL. Over the next decade he and his followers had managed to recreate just about everything necessary for a unix-like system, all the basic system operating tools, filesystems, etc ... except for a working kernel. But in 1991, Finnish computer student Linus Torvalds, likewise frustrated by the costly nature of Unix, set out to create his own version of the Unix kernel, which he released under the GPL. The subsequent merger of the GNU system tools and Linus' kernel became what we know today as Linux. |
Read this http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html
and also this http://www.catb.org/%7Eesr/faqs/hacker-howto.html BTW Quote:
I can charge $100 for a copy of Fedora if I want, but you can download it for free. It's about freedom of choice. I always understood Linus to have been building a minix style kernel as a project. |
According to the History of Linux page:
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And yes, I know all about free vs. FREE. No need to preach to the converted. :) Sorry if I didn't make the distinction clear enough in my last post. |
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