(Free Software Foundation, Inc., Boston, MA, www.gnu.org) A non-profit organization founded in 1985 by Richard Stallman, dedicated to eliminating restrictions on copying and modifying programs by promoting the development and use of freely redistributable software. It oversees the development of software for its GNU computing environment and provides online and CD-ROM distribution of GNU and other programs. See free software, GNU Manifesto, GNU, GNU/Linux and League for Programming Freedom.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Will Stallman C# warning fall flat?
- Will Stallman C# warning fall flat?Is this any different than Java?There are positive reasons to have someone hold the patent, mainly, that there is only one captain of the ship. I support open source, but the hitorical problem with it and UNIX has been forking. Some propeller head messes with...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-30
- R 2.9.1 (Mac)
- R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project which is similar to the S language and environment which was developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T, now Lucent Technologies) by John Chambers and colleagues. R can be considered as a different implementation of...
- Software downloads 2009-06-26
- Counting down to Microsoft's Windows 7 retail-price unveiling
- Counting down to Microsoft's Windows 7 retail-price unveilingNot likely to change my mind about MS...I'm quite certain their pricing for their various crippled Win 7 OS versions will still be a huge rip off compared to the "one OS for one reasonable price" pricing structure of Apple's OS X. So,...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-22
- How much do desktops matter?
- How much do desktops matter?The desktop/laptop will be around longer than that.Laptops continue to grow more prevalent than desktops, but a workstation computer will be a very long standing fixture in the lives of those in the developed world. No one is going to write term papers on a...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-19
- Beware of Windows 7 downgrade/upgrade mess
- Beware of Windows 7 downgrade/upgrade messXP is dead guys....Let it go. Vista works, and contrary to popular belief, is quite stable, and ready to carry your business.If you still need XP, you can always run it in a VM...Question?What organization buys computer without an OS not all ready preinstalled? Does...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-17
- Microsoft: Money Just Wants to Be Free
- Microsoft: Money Just Wants to Be FreeMS can't do it, they are a monopolyMonopolies are not allowed to release products for free. Intuit would have them in front of an EC judge within seconds and 3 years later, MS would be fined billions of euros for this move.It's not a...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-12
- Stratus bundles VMware vSphere Essentials
- It is clear that the folks at Stratus Technologies understand that virtualized environments are likely to become the norm at organizations of all sizes. Helping smaller organizations realize that vision is going to take some help, however. Stratus appears to be willing to put its "money where its mouth is"...
- Blog posts 2009-06-11
- Can Moblin wean universities from Microsoft?
- Can Moblin wean universities from Microsoft?Nonsense is AndroidIf we have Debian or Ubuntu, why the hell we need another MS-like company: Intel who is definitely a monopoly to push Linux? Wrong direction, very wrong direction.Moblin might be a dangerous strategy for IntelMoblin might be a dangerous strategy for Intel. ...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-05
- Microsoft Office still owns the desktop, future of StarOffice unclear
- Microsoft Office still owns the desktop, future of StarOffice unclearMakes you wonderStarOffice/OpenOffice is so far behind MS Office that it isn't even funny. They are lagging in performance, usability, innovation, features, programmability. It looks like Office 97. featurewise and quite literally.It is the cheapo free/cheap alternative you only accept because...
- Discussion threads 2009-05-26
- Oracle under fire with x86 hypervisor licensing
- Burton Group's Chris Wolf has fired a salvo in Oracle's direction concerning its x86 hypervisor licensing policy. This is a long extract from a much more in depth piece but it is necessary to see what Chris is saying in order to understand the context (my emphasis added and apologies...
- Blog posts 2009-05-19
- News to know: IBM; SAP; Microsoft; Sarbanes-Oxley; EMC
- Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Larry Dignan: IBM rolls out the 'Smart Cube' with app market: Think enterprise iPod-iTunes combo Joe McKendrick: Goodbye, SOX? AP: Supreme Court to...
- Blog posts 2009-05-19
- Microsoft, Linux Foundation issue joint letter opposing proposed software-licensing principles
- Microsoft, Linux Foundation issue joint letter opposing proposed software-licensing principlesTranslationWe linux and MS know most of our software is crap, and if you make us warranty it, we're screwed.I find this very interesting!The amazing thing about software, if written correctly, is that you CAN guarantee it will do the same...
- Discussion threads 2009-05-18
- Is an IBM purchase of Red Hat inevitable?
- Is an IBM purchase of Red Hat inevitable?Jboss would complement Websphere?Really? Is that like how MySQL is going to complement Oracle's flagship product? Doesn't make sense to me, these products are in direct competition with eachother.I think the biggest threat to RedHat's business model is CentOS. Smart...
- Discussion threads 2009-05-15
- Linux clients break 1% web usage share
- Linux clients break 1% web usage shareThank you, danske, gracias.For the information.For some reason....I was in the shower and knew I would see a headline like this today. 1% on this rather limited survey most likely equates to a much larger share than whats given.How can...Linux be on a rise...
- Discussion threads 2009-05-01
- Apple is being accused of stifling free speech; again
- In November 2008 Virginia-based OdioWorks, operator of BluWiki a non-commercial wiki that promises publishing without censorship, received a takedown notice from Apple demanding that it remove user postings about how to “write software that can sync media to the latest versions of the iPhone...
- Blog posts 2009-04-28
- Wiki sues Apple over DMCA claims
- Last year, Apple lawyers contacted OdioWorks, the operator of BluWiki.com, claiming that certain user postings violated the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and copyright law. Apple threatened to sue Odioworks if the documents weren't removed and OdioWorks complied. Now, with the assistance of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, OdioWorks...
- Blog posts 2009-04-27
- Books: Entering the Age of Glosses
- Here's the key to thinking about the future of writing, something straight out of the manuscript era: the humble gloss or "scholia," for those who prefer the Latin. They are the notes, in margins, footnotes at the bottom of a page (the standard starting around 1700) and later in the...
- Blog posts 2009-04-27
- The Oracle open source credibility gap
- The Oracle open source credibility gapIf I was in Larry Ellison's shoes......I'd do the following:1. Spin off MySQL either by selling it to the public, or by setting up a non-profit foundation and transferring all MySQL copyrights and employees to it. Ellison would get to play the good...
- Discussion threads 2009-04-27
- Conficker's estimated economic cost? $9.1 billion
- In a recent blog post, the Cyber Secure Institute claims that based on their previous studies into the average cost of such malware attacks, the economic loss due to the Conficker worm could be as high as $9.1 billion. Despite that their analysis also considered a much...
- Blog posts 2009-04-23
- Are any open source projects too big to lose
- Are any open source projects too big to loseAn enemy of an enemy...It seems clear that these "crown jewels" are continuing sources of vexation to MS. So why would MS arch-enemy Oracle do anything to reduce this effect?On the other hand, might MS counter-move by buying some open source...
- Discussion threads 2009-04-22
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