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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: 5, Funny) by choose another one on Friday September 28 2018, @11:13AM (14 children)
Yeah, umm, b***ocks.
First you have the grandfather's axe / Theseus's paradox problem - Emacs was released in '85 but I doubt anyone uses that version today, but I reckon some code probably survives, so is Emacs a piece of software from 35yrs ago or not? If not, which piece of GNU software do you think is in-use unmodified from 35 years ago?
OTOH examples:
1. I personally wrote code back in the late 80s for a project that dated back to 1983. The OS was custom written in assembly language. The product is still in use, later revisions might have excised bits of code further up the stack, my code probably isn't used anymore, but I very much doubt they re-engineered everything from the OS up, so that 35yr old OS code is still used. If they are still maintaining the code stack they may be using the compilers and tool chains which were from the 70's for a language from the 60's.
2. COBOL (MicroFocus COBOL is 40yrs old)
3. Your bank, probably, see above
4. Proprietary versions of *BSD probably include 35yr old code (see http://www.osnews.com/story/19731/The-25-Year-Old-UNIX-Bug [osnews.com] from 2008)
5. Proprietary versions of TeX probably include code that is even older (and original TeX licence is strange, not entirely free)
6. Proprietary versions of Unix may include code that is even older than that
7. Voyager 1 (and 2) onboard code
bored now, is that enough?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday September 28 2018, @11:35AM (4 children)
Confirmation....
10 CLS
20 PRINT "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
30 INPUT B$
40 PRINT "YOU STINK, ";B$
50 GOTO 40
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by choose another one on Friday September 28 2018, @01:35PM
Bugger, I'd forgotten Micro Computers for a reason, now I've just spent hours playing chuckie egg on an emulator and desperately trying to resist trying Elite...
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Friday September 28 2018, @02:57PM (2 children)
60 PROFIT!
If AI causes human extinction, there will probably be quite a lawsuit over that.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday September 28 2018, @05:04PM
RUN 60
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Saturday September 29 2018, @04:01AM
You're never gonna make any money that way!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Friday September 28 2018, @12:05PM (4 children)
35 years is bullshit because of the PS/2 keyboard standard being 31 years old.
I'm typing this at 100 WPM on a genuine original edition IBM Model M with a birthdate on the bottom of 06JAN88 so my keyboard is 30+ years old now. I've been using it since the 90s when I got it from a previous employer (along with a pile of obsolete IBM PS/2 hardware)
The code in the microcontroller inside the keyboard is over thirty years old.
Now this is supposedly unusual to use a keyboard thats heavier than most laptops. However the world is full of industrial appliance type equipment with old keyboards and mice plugged in.
My MiL has a 90s era microwave oven that just won't burn out.
I have and occasionally use a TI-81 calculator dating from 1990.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday September 29 2018, @02:20AM (3 children)
My preferred calculator is the Casio FX4000P, only made in 1985. (also sold as the Radio Shack EC-4020)
I had to pay quite a bit for a second hand one a few years ago when my original finally died.
200 million years is actually quite a long time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:06PM (2 children)
Why do programmable calculators still cost over $100?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @06:28PM
Near-monopoly + captive market
(Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday September 29 2018, @11:50PM
Weird but true datapoint:
Most Texas Instruments education-required K12 calculators cost far more than swissmicros small production run custom products.
I have to admit I've almost pulled the trigger on buying a DM16L a ridiculous number of times. Although I have a great emulator on my phone.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday September 28 2018, @12:23PM
I know of multiple instances of industrial controller code that's been in service so long that they have to have spares and rebuild if one breaks because they're no longer made. They're going over to Beta Raven mostly in new stuff but they hate losing money and would be out millions even if it was a straight up swap out of a pre-programmed new unit for old stuff. And nothing is ever going to work that perfectly.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28 2018, @11:46PM (1 child)
If Redhat had been around back then...
How about everything IBM ships with AIX?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:08PM
ZOS is based on OS/390 which is based on.. yeah, there's code in there going back decades.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:04PM
Ever seen SAP stuck in as a web front end to a COBOL system running code on ZOS that still has elements from the 1970s?