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In 1983, Richard Stallman announced the GNU Project to create freely available operating systems and software programs governed by the General Public License (GPL). The Free Software Foundation (FSF) was launched in 1985 to support the movement. The FSF has published additional licenses, and the GPL has gone through three revisions. The first operating system created through the GNU Project was merged with Linus Torvalds’ work in 1991, resulting in the Linux kernel. The open-source community continues to develop free software for various systems. Stallman remains an advocate of free software, and GNU/Linux was adopted in 12,500 schools in India in 2006.
In September 1983, freedom activist Richard Stallman, then of MIT, announced the GNU Project (pronounced gee-noo). The idea behind GNU was to create a repository of operating systems and software programs freely available to everyone. Unlike restrictive copyright protections, Stallman’s copyleft license, or the General Public License (GPL), governs how GNU software can be used and distributed. The most basic principles are that the GNU software code and any derivatives and software are freely available and that users are free to modify the code.
Two years after the announcement of the GNU Project, Stallman launched the non-profit Free Software Foundation (FSF) to support the GNU movement and enforce the terms of the General Public License. Over time the GPL has gone through three revisions, with GPLv3 updated as of June 2007. Most open source software today uses the GPL, although Stallman, a stickler for terminology, doesn’t use the term “open source” but ” freedom software” or “free software” to evoke values of freedom in the user, the cornerstone of his socio-political activism.
In addition to the General Public License, the FSF has also published three additional licenses: the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), and the GNU Affero General Public License (GAGPL). These licenses are used in specific situations where additional circumstances require the terms of the GPL to change. For example, the LGPL is used when GNU software is linked by software libraries to copyrighted or proprietary software.
The first operating system created through the GNU Project, aptly named “GNU,” was merged with independent work done by Finnish American Linus Torvalds in 1991, resulting in the Linux kernel. There are now dozens of GNU/Linux operating systems available in a variety of flavors and types, from desktop systems to portable systems suitable for a bootable memory stick or Live CD. GNU/Linux operating systems, or “distros,” which is short for distributions, are protected from copyright restrictions by the copyleft general public license.
In addition to operating systems, the GNU Project and the open source community continue to develop free software to run on GNU/Linux, Mac® and Windows® systems. Most GNU/Linux distributions come complete with software installed to do everything from spreadsheets to word processing to email to browsing to music ripping to video and photo editing. Virtually anything that can be done in proprietary operating systems can be done on a GNU system, although there are typically fewer programs to choose from within each software category than there are for Windows software.
While GNU software is generally free, nominal fees are sometimes charged if, for example, you request a program CD or purchase a packaged retail package. There is typically a way to get the program for free in digital form, however, through binaries, torrents, or other forms of file sharing.
Stallman remains an outspoken and devoted advocate of free software, pushing the GNU Project and the General Public License internationally. One success includes the 2006 adoption of GNU/Linux in 12,500 schools in India.
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