Thread: GNU turns 25

The GNU operating system turned25 this month and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) had kicked off a month-long celebration for the anniversary by releasing 'Happy Birthday to GNU', a short film featuring at the English humorist, actor, novelist and in filmmaker, Stephen Fry. In the five-minute film, Fry compares the free software operating system to 'good science' and contrasts it with the 'kind of tyranny' imposed by the proprietary software produced by companies like Microsoft and Apple. He n encomages people to use free GNUlLinux " distributions like gNewSense and free software generally, for freedom's sake.



Peter Brown, the FSF's executive director, said on the occasion, "We intend for the 25th anniversary to be more than just a reflection on the history of the free software movement, because despite all of the success brought about by the GNU system and other free software projects, we still need a determined effort to replace or eliminate the proprietary applications, platforms, drivers and firmware that many users still fill1. In this light, the video of Stephen Fry is not just a celebration, but a rallying call for the work that still needs to be done." It was in the month of September 1983 that Richard Stallman introduced his plan of releasing free software based on a UNIX-like system, available with a free open somce code, allowing anyone to modify and redistribute it. Today, over 300 software packages are released under the GNU Project, and new programs are being added all the time. The video 'Happy Birthday to GNU', along with more information about GNU software
and its philosophy.