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The GNU project was officially announced on 27 September 1983 by Richard Stallman. Thirty-five years of a project that has now become the fundamental building block of everything we use and see in technology in 2018. I would not be wrong to say that there isn't a single proprietary piece of software that anyone is still using from 35 years ago – please post comments if there is something still being used.
There is only one reason for this longevity: the GNU project was built upon the premise that the code is available to anyone, anywhere with the only restriction that whatever is done to the code, it shall always be available to anyone, forever. Richard Stallman's genius in crafting the copyleft license that is the GNU General Public License is probably the best hack of the 20th century software industry.
Extra: Happy Birthday, GNU: Why I still love GNU 35 years later
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 28 2018, @06:38PM (2 children)
The movement started by Richard Stallman has been so successful that here we are today watching Microsoft tripping all over itself trying to embrace open source. Something not to be believed in the mid 90's when Microsoft dominated everything and it looked like it might never change.
That open source powers everything in the world. The rising tide has lifted everyone's boat.
If a device manufacturer is using any code in violation of an open source license, then they could (and sometimes do) get sued for it, and lose.
What did RMS accomplish? We now have an embarrassing amount of open source riches upon which we poor coders build upon to create bigger and better things, making money in the process.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @12:42AM (1 child)
You seriously don't know what you're talking about. Billion dollar corporations know exactly how to exploit open source for free without violating any licenses, without acknowledging they even use open source, without paying any coders a cent, and without passing on any open source freedoms to their users.
The only thing RMS ever accomplished is socializing the costs of software production while privatizing all the profits. RMS is the greatest communist villain ever to sell out to capitalists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @08:27AM
My standard question: "If you are so rich, why aren't you smart?" They do not know this. Corporations are not people, my friend, they are lizard people. Vote for the Lizard-people, so that the wrong Lizerd peoples donk gett in jl;ajd dhalf fh89s-*Y&l,. [end transmission untraceable to the interstellar starship in deep orbit around the Earth]