What Is GNU?
GNU stands for GNU's Not UNIX, a project started by Richard M. Stallman in 1984. The goal was to develop an open source operating system that would be freely distributed to anyone who wanted it. At that time, there were no viable operating systems that were not proprietary. GNU was intended to remedy the situation.
GNU intended to develop all the programs needed to produce a complete operating system, including a kernel, a shell (the program that interfaces between the user and the kernel), utilities, compilers, text editors, mail software, etc. GNU intended to provide all the programs necessary so that users would not need to use any proprietary software. GNU is philosophically opposed to proprietary software.
GNU coordinated the ...
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