GNU
GNU: /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym: `GNU's Not UNIX!',
see recursive acronym] A UNIX-workalike development effort of
the Free Software Foundation headed by Richard Stallman
<rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. GNU EMACS and the GNU C compiler, two tools
designed for this project, have become very popular in hackerdom
and elsewhere. The GNU project was designed partly to proselytize
for RMS's position that information is community property and all
software source should be shared. One of its slogans is "Help
stamp out software hoarding!" Though this remains controversial
(because it implicitly denies any right of designers to own,
assign, and sell the results of their labors), many hackers who
disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large
amounts of high-quality software for free redistribution under the
Free Software Foundation's imprimatur. See EMACS,
copyleft, General Public Virus. 2. Noted UNIX hacker
John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>, founder of USENET's anarchic alt.*
hierarchy.