Another important anniversary. I wonder how well this thread will
compare with "25 years of Google" [0]<p>As a 50 year old, GNU has been there in the background for most of my life
as a computing professional. It has not grown much as an organisation or
ideas base, but clung firmly to timeless principles.<p>That continuity and longevity is testimony to the power of an ideal,
that computing belongs in the hands of the people, as a tool and not
as a weapon in the hands of those who seek domination.<p>[0] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37669341">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37669341</a>
I can't find it, but I remember a quote something like this<p>> The initial GNU announcement was crazy. Rewriting all of Unix? It was like Stallman had said, "I need help building a free rocket ship to Mars, and I'm getting started right after I finish this Thanksgiving dinner."<p>I hope to one day be known for 1 really crazy idea that somehow paid off, and not the 999 obviously bad ideas that it took to get there.
GNU has much to be proud of. It pioneered the use of "copyleft" and has produced a stream of influential software that is critical even today.<p>For me the greatest achievement of GNU is proving that software does not need to be proprietary. There was a time when Windows and other proprietary Unixes ruled the roost. Due to the easy availability of fundamental GNU software at the right time we saw the cambrian explosion of open computing software during the internet era.<p>However, GNU seems to have not changed (enough) with the times. A new breed of open source software is steadily chipping away at GNU's monopoly (e.g. LLVM, musl etc). GNU's website, tooling and codebase increasingly looks outdated, monolithic and crusty. Sure there are gems still to be found in GNU's software stable. I also like that they hold fast to certain noble software principles.<p>TL;DR GNU needs to reinvent and refresh itself while still preserving its core principles.