«... Richard Stallman has undertaken probably the most ambitious free software development project to date, the GNU system. In his GNU Manifesto, published in the March 1985 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal, Stallman described GNU as a "complete Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can use it...

"...For Richard Stallman, the danger lies in the fine print. To Stallman, the fact it's illegal to copy, modify or give away much of today's computer software is an assault on people's fundamental rights and freedoms. But he knows it's all there, written down, saying that people can't do it. So for almost 25-years, it's this fine print he's been fighting..."

"Twenty five years ago , on September 27 1983, Richard Stallman announced his plans to 'write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu’s Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it'..."

Richard M. Stallman is an American software freedom activist and computer programmer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system; he initiated the Free Software Movement; in October 1985 he founded the Free Software Foundation.

The newly formed Manchester Free software Group hosted Richard Stallman in Manchester or the first of May.
Talking on the subject of Free Software in ethics and practice", RMS drew a crowd of more than 300 people to the event, run in association with the BCS and IET.

I have interviewed Richard Stallman and other members of the Free Software Foundation often enough that he remembers my name (no small feat, I’m sure, considering the hundreds he meets each year). Once or twice, I think, in talking about parrots and folk music, I may have caught a personal glimpse of him. But, even if I haven’t, I generally support the Free Software Foundation.

Linux is the first truly free Unix-like operating system. The underlying GNU Project was launched in 1983 by Richard Stallman originally to develop a Unix-compatible operating system called GNU, intended to be entirely free software. Many programs and utilities were contributed by developers around the world, and by 1991 most of the components of the system were ready.

"Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated "rms",[1] is an American software freedom activist, hacker,[2] and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project[3] to create a free Unix-like operating system, and has been the project's lead architect and organizer.

« 25 years ago Richard Stallman started the GNU (”Gnu’s Not Unix”) project to create a computer operating system like Unix (then ascendant in computer labs like the one Stallman worked in), but with source code free for programmers to run, study, share, and improve.