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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> |
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<html newsdate="2013-09-27"> |
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<version>1</version> |
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<head> |
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<title>Changing the world: The GNU project turns 30</title> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<h1>Changing the world: The GNU project turns 30</h1> |
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<p>It was 30 years ago that Richard Stallman announced the <a |
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href="http://gnu.org">GNU project</a>. An initiative that started with a |
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programmer's frustration over a broken printer driver has changed our society. |
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The idea of software that everyone can use, study, share and improve has proven |
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very powerful indeed.</p> |
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<blockquote><p>"Without the GNU project and the Free Software movement that it |
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inspired, our everyday lives - and the Internet - would be a very different |
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place right now," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software |
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Foundation Europe.</p></blockquote> |
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<p><a href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">Free Software</a> puts the control |
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of electronic devices where it belongs: with the people who own them. Today, |
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Free Software is everywhere. It powers the Internet, our mobile phones, |
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televisions, cars, routers, and electronic devices of all sorts. Free Software |
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has fundamentally changed the way people create software: instead of preventing |
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people to adapt the software to their own needs, they invite people to |
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participate in the development. </p> |
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<blockquote><p>"The GNU project has acted as the starting point of a movement |
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that makes sure we can control technology, and not technology controlling |
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us," says Matthias Kirschner, FSFE's head of Public |
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Awareness.</p></blockquote> |
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<p>The influence of the GNU project's approach to sharing knowledge goes far |
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beyond the GNU/Linux operating system, and extends beyond computer programs. |
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With the power of shared knowledge, Wikipedia has fast risen to become the |
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world's mainstream encyclopedia. Creative Commons licenses let artists, |
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musicians and authors use their work in ways ideally suited to the digital age. |
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Scientists and engineers rely on Free Software tools to cure diseases and make |
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everyone's life better. A generation of young people is now coming of age for |
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whom sharing knowledge is simply the natural thing to do.</p> |
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<blockquote><p>"We are grateful to Richard Stallman for sparking this epochal |
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change, and to everyone who has worked so hard to drive Free Software's |
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progress for three decades," says Gerloff. "Join our movement, <a |
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href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">support our work</a>, and help us met the |
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challenges ahead."</p></blockquote> |
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</body> |
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<tag key="front-page"/> |
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<tag key="gnu"/> |
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</tags> |
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</html>
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