Brief History Of Linux (#21)
The GNU Project
Meet Richard M. Stallman, an MIT hacker who would found the GNU Project
and create Emacs, the operating-system-disguised-as-a-text-editor. RMS,
the first member of the Three Initials Club (joined by ESR and JWZ),
experienced such frustration with software wrapped in arcane license
agreements that he embarked on the GNU Project to produce free software.
His journey began when he noticed this fine print for a printer driver:
You do not own this software. You own a license to use one copy of this
software, a license that we can revoke at any time for any reason
whatsoever without a refund. You may not copy, distribute, alter,
disassemble, or hack the software. The source code is locked away in a
vault in Cleveland. If you say anything negative about this software
you will be in violation of this license and required to forfeit your
soul and/or first born child to us.
The harsh wording of the license shocked RMS. The computer industry was in
it's infancy, which could only mean it was going to get much, much worse.
The GNU Project
Meet Richard M. Stallman, an MIT hacker who would found the GNU Project
and create Emacs, the operating-system-disguised-as-a-text-editor. RMS,
the first member of the Three Initials Club (joined by ESR and JWZ),
experienced such frustration with software wrapped in arcane license
agreements that he embarked on the GNU Project to produce free software.
His journey began when he noticed this fine print for a printer driver:
You do not own this software. You own a license to use one copy of this
software, a license that we can revoke at any time for any reason
whatsoever without a refund. You may not copy, distribute, alter,
disassemble, or hack the software. The source code is locked away in a
vault in Cleveland. If you say anything negative about this software
you will be in violation of this license and required to forfeit your
soul and/or first born child to us.
The harsh wording of the license shocked RMS. The computer industry was in
it's infancy, which could only mean it was going to get much, much worse.
Related:
- GNU /gnoo/, not /noo/
1. [acronym: `GNU's Not
Unix!',
see recursive acronym] A Unix-workalike development... - General Public Virus: n. Pejorative name for some versions of the
{GNU} project {copyleft} or General Public License (GPL),
which requires that any tools or {app}s incorporating... - GNU: /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym: `GNU's Not UNIX!',
see {{recursive acronym}}] A UNIX-workalike development... - General Public Virus n.
Pejorative name for some
versions of the GNU project copyleft or General Public
License (GPL),
which requires that any tools or apps incorporating... - software hoarding n.
Pejorative term employed by members and
adherents of the GNU project to describe the act of holding
software proprietary,
keeping it under trade secret or license terms which... - free software n.
As defined by Richard M. Stallman and
used by the Free Software movement,
this means software that gives users enough freedom... - Linux /lee'nuhks/ or /li'nuks/, not /li:'nuhks/
n.
The free Unix workalike created by Linus Torvalds and... - This is where the bloodthirsty license agreement is supposed to go,
explaining that Interactive Easyflow is a copyrighted... - Brief History Of Linux (#22)
RMS had a horrible, terrible dream set in 2020 in which all of society was
held captive by copyright law.
In particular, everyone's brain waves were monitored...
