[glug-t] GNU Anniversary.

Hello Folks!
27th september 1983, RMS announced to the world that
he was setting a trailblazing path; the Free Software way.
Today GNU project must be one more year older, touching lives
and making dreams come true; for many of us all over the globe.

Just spare a moment and look into the GNU project history at
http://en.wikipedia.org/GNU

Also, read the announcement of the GNU project, by RMS himself
on this day, that age.
Cheers
GNU.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Free Unix!

Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a
complete
Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's
Not Unix), and
give it away free to everyone who can use it.
Contributions of time,
money, programs and equipment are greatly needed.

To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the
utilities needed to
write and run C programs: editor, shell, C compiler,
linker,
assembler, and a few other things.  After this we will
add a text
formatter, a YACC, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and
hundreds of
other things.  We hope to supply, eventually,
everything useful that
normally comes with a Unix system, and anything else
useful, including
on-line and hardcopy documentation.

GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be
identical
to Unix.  We will make all improvements that are
convenient, based
on our experience with other operating systems.  In
particular,
we plan to have longer filenames, file version
numbers, a crashproof
file system, filename completion perhaps,
terminal-independent
display support, and eventually a Lisp-based window
system through
which several Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs
can share a screen.
Both C and Lisp will be available as system
programming languages.
We will have network software based on MIT's chaosnet
protocol,
far superior to UUCP.  We may also have something
compatible
with UUCP.


Who Am I?

I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original
much-imitated EMACS
editor, now at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT.
 I have worked
extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command
interpreters, the
Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine
operating system.
I pioneered terminal-independent display support in
ITS.  In addition I
have implemented one crashproof file system and two
window systems for
Lisp machines.


Why I Must Write GNU

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I
like a program I
must share it with other people who like it.  I cannot
in good
conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a
software license
agreement.

So that I can continue to use computers without
violating my principles,
I have decided to put together a sufficient body of
free software so that
I will be able to get along without any software that
is not free.


How You Can Contribute

I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of
machines and money.
I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and
work.

One computer manufacturer has already offered to
provide a machine.  But
we could use more.  One consequence you can expect if
you donate
machines is that GNU will run on them at an early
date.  The machine had
better be able to operate in a residential area, and
not require
sophisticated cooling or power.

Individual programmers can contribute by writing a
compatible duplicate
of some Unix utility and giving it to me.  For most
projects, such
part-time distributed work would be very hard to
coordinate; the
independently-written parts would not work together.
But for the
particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is
absent.  Most
interface specifications are fixed by Unix
compatibility.  If each
contribution works with the rest of Unix, it will
probably work
with the rest of GNU.

If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a
few people full or
part time.  The salary won't be high, but I'm looking
for people for
whom knowing they are helping humanity is as important
as money.  I view
this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote
their full energies to
working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a
living in another way.


For more information, contact me.
Arpanet mail:
  RMS@xxxxxxxxxxx

Usenet:
  ...!mit-eddie!RMS@OZ
  ...!mit-vax!RMS@OZ

US Snail:
  Richard Stallman
  166 Prospect St
  Cambridge, MA 02139              
---------

Life is beautiful.
http://cybernetics.freewebspace.com

-------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP(http://www.nitt.edu)
---------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe send a mail to glug_t-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
'unsubscribe' as subject.

Website: http://glugt.linuxisle.com

Other related posts: