GNU
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GNU is an operating system and an extensive collection of free computer software which is licensed under the GNU Project's own General Public License (GPL).
GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!", chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code.[1]
GNU Project
The GNU Project includes an operating system kernel, GNU Hurd, which was the original focus of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). However, given the Hurd kernel's status as not yet production-ready, non-GNU kernels, most popularly the Linux kernel, can also be used with GNU software. The combination of GNU and Linux has become ubiquitous to the point that the duo is often referred to as just "Linux" in short, or, less frequently, GNU/Linux.[2]
Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project, views GNU as a "technical means to a social end". Relatedly, Lawrence Lessig states in his introduction to the second edition of Stallman's book "Free Software, Free Society" that Stallman has written about "the social aspects of software and how Free Software can create community and social justice".
The Gnu Song
Development of the GNU operating system was initiated by Richard Stallman while he worked at MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. It was called the GNU Project, and was publicly announced on 27 September 1983, on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups by Stallman. Software development began on 5 January 1984, when Stallman quit his job at the Lab so that they could not claim ownership or interfere with distributing GNU components as free software. Richard Stallman chose the name by using various plays on words, including "The Gnu Song" by Flanders and Swann.[3]
References
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