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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <html> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("http://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.gnu.org:80/home.html","20030801083146","http://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1059726706"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>GNU's Not Unix! - the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation (FSF)</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; CHARSET=iso-8859-1"> <meta http-equiv="Keywords" content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, Emacs, GCC, Unix, Free Software, Operating System, GNU Kernel, HURD, GNU HURD"> <meta http-equiv="Description" content="Since 1983, developing the free Unix-like operating system GNU, so that computer users can have the freedom to share and improve the software they use."> <link rev="made" href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#1F00FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#9900DD">  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td>FSF | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.fsfeurope.org/">FSF Europe</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://fsf.org.in/">FSF India</a></td> </tr> </table> </center> <center><h1>GNU's Not Unix!</h1></center> <center> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/agnuhead.html"><img src="/web/20030801083146im_/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/gnu-head-sm.jpg" alt=" [image of the Head of a GNU] " border="0" width="129" height="122"></a><br> </center> <p> <center> <table width="70%"> <tr> <td> [           <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sq.html">Albanian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.bs.html">Bosnian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ca.html">Catalan</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.cn.html">Chinese(Simplified)</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.zh.html">Chinese(Traditional)</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.hr.html">Croatian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.cs.html">Czech</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.da.html">Danish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.nl.html">Dutch</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.html">English</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.fr.html">French</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.de.html">German</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.el.html">Greek</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.hu.html">Hungarian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.id.html">Indonesian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.it.html">Italian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ja.html">Japanese</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ko.html">Korean</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.no.html">Norwegian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.pl.html">Polish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.pt.html">Portuguese</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ro.html">Romanian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sr.html">Serbian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.es.html">Spanish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sv.html">Swedish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.th.html">Thai</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.tr.html">Turkish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.vi.html">Vietnamese</a>           ] </td> </tr> </table> </center>   <p> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td> Welcome to the GNU Project web server, <strong>www.gnu.org</strong>. The <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html">GNU Project</a> was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is <a href="philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>: the GNU system. (GNU is a recursive acronym for ``GNU's Not Unix''; it is pronounced "guh-NEW".) Variants of the GNU operating system, which use the kernel Linux, are now widely used; though these systems are often referred to as ``Linux'', they are more accurately called <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html">GNU/Linux systems</a>. </td> </tr> </table> <p> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td> This is also the web site of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). FSF is the principal organizational sponsor of the GNU Project. FSF receives very little funding from corporations or grant-making foundations. We rely on support from individuals like you who support FSF's mission to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights of Free Software users. Last year, over 67% of our operating funds came from individual donors. That ongoing support is the primary way we can continue our work. Please consider <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://donate.fsf.org/">making a donation today</a>, becoming an <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://member.fsf.org/"> Associate Member of FSF</a>, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/doc/book13.html">ordering a copy of <cite>Free Software, Free Society</cite></a>, and/or <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://patron.fsf.org/">encouraging your company to become a Corporate Patron of FSF</a>. </td> </tr> </table> <p> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td> If you are in the West Coast, or plan to be in area in early August, we'd like you to know about three upcoming FSF events in the San Francisco/Bay Area: <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://member.fsf.org/reception.html">Associate Membership Reception, August 6, San Francisco</a> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.fsf.org/events/dinner-20030807.html">Free Software Foundation Fundraising Dinner, August 7, San Francisco</a> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://patron.fsf.org/course-offering.html">Licensing and the GNU GPL Seminar, August 8, Stanford University, Stanford</a> </ul> We hope to see you there. </td> </tr> </table> <p> <table width="70%"> <tr> <td> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/provide.html">What we provide</a> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html">Why we exist</a> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html">Where we are going</a> </ul> </td> <td> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html">How you can help us get there</a> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/people/people.html">Who we are</a> <li><a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/testimonials/testimonials.html">What users think of GNU software</a> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <p>      <center> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/projects/projects.html">GNU Projects</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/directory/" name="FreeSoftwareDirectory">The Free Software Directory</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://savannah.gnu.org/">Free Software at Savannah</a> </center> <br> <center> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html">Licenses</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/software/devel.html">Developer Resources</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/help/gethelp.html">Get Help for GNU Software</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-user-groups.html">GNU User Groups</a> </center> <br> <center> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/doc/doc.html">GNU Documentation</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/doc/other-free-books.html">Other Documentation</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/manual/manual.html">Manuals Online</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/education/education.html">GNU and Education</a> </center> <br> <center> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/events.html">Coming Events</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/people/speakers.html">GNU Speakers</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/press/press.html">Press Information</a> and <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/press/press.html#releases">Releases</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/brave-gnu-world/brave-gnu-world.en.html">Brave GNU World</a> </center> <br> <center> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://order.fsf.org/"><font size="+1"><strong>Ordering</strong></font></a> | <a 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href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html">Art</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/fun/humor.html">Fun</a> </center> <br> <p> <center> <table width="80%"> <tr> <td> <h2><a name="Flashes">GNUs   Flashes</a></h2>                <p> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/sco-statement.html">FSF has released a statement on the SCO v. IBM lawsuit</a>. <p> A new page on <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/doc/expanding.html">getting GNU Press books into your local bookstores</a> has been added. <p> The W3C "Royalty-Free" patent policy proposal does not protect the rights of the Free Software community to full participation in the implementation and extension of web standards. <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/w3c-patent.html">Please read more on this issue and send a comment to the W3C</a>. <p> Here is a list of the GNU Project's <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/server/new-software.html">latest software releases</a>, which we update nightly. <p> For other news, as well as for items that used to be in this GNUs Flashes section, see <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/server/whatsnew.html">What's New</a> in and about the GNU Project. <h2><a name="Action">Take Action</a></h2> <p> <strong>European Programmers:</strong> Please do a little work to convince the European Parliament to reject software patents. <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/07/">This page</a> explains the issue and provides suggestions for action; we ask that you take the time to participate. <p> <strong>Urgent:</strong> Please visit <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.digitalspeech.org/">http://www.digitalspeech.org</a> and help resist the media companies' campaign to impose restrictions on what your computer can do. <p> <strong>US Citizens:</strong> Please sign <em>both</em> the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.petitiononline.com/pasp01/petition.html">Petition Against Software Patents</a> and the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.petitiononline.com/nixdmca/petition.html">Anti-DMCA Petition</a>.   <p> <h2>More Information</h2> The <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/fsf/fsf.html">Free Software Foundation</a> is a tax-exempt charity that raises funds for work on the GNU Project. <p> The philosophy and history of the GNU project is featured in <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.stallman.org/">Richard M. Stallman</a>'s article <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html">The GNU Project</a> and in several other texts in our <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html">philosophy</a> section. <p> The FSF supports the <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/basic-freedoms.html">freedoms of speech, press, and association</a> on the Internet, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/http://www.eff.org/privnow/">the right to use encryption software for private communication</a>, and the <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/protecting.html">right to write software</a> unimpeded by private monopolies. <p> <h2><a name="ContactInfo">Contact Information</a></h2> Please send inquiries about GNU and the FSF to <pre> Free Software Foundation Voice: +1-617-542-5942 59 Temple Place - Suite 330 Fax: +1-617-542-2652 Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA E-Mail: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/mailto:gnu@gnu.org">gnu@gnu.org</a> </pre> <p> Thanks for visiting our site! <br> <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/people/webmeisters.html"><em>The GNU Webmasters</em></a> <br> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083146/mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><em>webmasters@gnu.org</em></a> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <p> <center> <table width="70%"> <tr> <td> [   <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sq.html">Albanian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.bs.html">Bosnian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ca.html">Catalan</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.cn.html">Chinese(Simplified)</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.zh.html">Chinese(Traditional)</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.hr.html">Croatian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.cs.html">Czech</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.da.html">Danish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.nl.html">Dutch</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.html">English</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.fr.html">French</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.de.html">German</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.el.html">Greek</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.hu.html">Hungarian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.id.html">Indonesian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.it.html">Italian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ja.html">Japanese</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ko.html">Korean</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.no.html">Norwegian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.pl.html">Polish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.pt.html">Portuguese</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.ro.html">Romanian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sr.html">Serbian</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.es.html">Spanish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.sv.html">Swedish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.th.html">Thai</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.tr.html">Turkish</a> | <a href="/web/20030801083146/http://www.gnu.org/home.vi.html">Vietnamese</a>   ] </td> </tr> </table> </center> <hr>  <p> Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA <p> Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. <p> Updated:  $Date: 2003/07/22 14:26:54 $ $Author: sinuhe $  <hr> </body> </html>