The open source GNU Project; free software, free contributions - Free

Have you ever gotten “blue screens”, or system errors while working on your computer and had to wait an intolerable amount of time to get help from the manufacturer? Have you tried to build your own computer from scratch to cut down on cost, only to find the price of the operating system is twice what it cost you for the parts? In the early 80’s Richard Stallman announce a project to develop the GNU operating system, which is a free Unix-like operating system. GNU, which stands for ‘Gnu’s Not Unix’, is open source software that anyone can contribute to. Any one can also get it for free and copy and distribute it. Because of Richard Stallman and many other talented programmers willing to work without pay, we have now have a free operating systems like the united GNU/Linux.

The GNU Manifesto, found at http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html , was written by Richard Stallman when he first began the GNU project to ask for participation and support. Stallman personally did not like to have to sign licenses and ‘intellectual property’ rights. He believed that software should be free, just like air, and used the example of a space station in which everyone had to pay for air per breather and liter: It would be better to support the production of air by taxes than charge the breathers.

In the GNU Manifesto Stallman tried to address many of the concerns and questions that people had about free software such as support, distribution and the effect on programmers. Today millions of people are now using GNU/Linux. It has a reputation of being one of the safest operating systems available and, if you know how to get it, it’s free. Many talented programmers have also willingly contributed to the project.

Personally I don’t like how Stallman casually dismissed what he thought would be the decline of high paid programming jobs. I have an inkling that Stallman may be one of those talented individuals that programming comes easy to and he doesn’t realize how difficult it can be to countless people. In music, art, literature, science and even programming, which at the highest level requires a great deal of talent, creativity and innovation, there are individuals that excel and make significant contributions and advancements to their vocation. Such a decline as he suggested would be a travesty. In the footnotes though, he later added - “The custom software business would continue to exist, more or less unchanged, in a free software world. Therefore, I no longer expect that most paid programmers would earn less in a free software world.”

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