GNU is growing, and we need your help

The GNU System is more than a collection of software components; it's a philosophy, a social movement. The ideas Richard Stallman articulated in the GNU Manifesto spawned some of the most important ideas of our time: copyleft and free culture. It is vital that we continue to develop the ideas in the GNU Manifesto and apply them to our rapidly changing relationship to technology. In a world where our computing freedoms, privacy, and security are eroding rapidly, Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation will continue to demand better.
Donate $30 today to help GNU build on thirty years of software freedom. Your donation by January 31st will help us meet our $450,000 annual fundraising goal.
Building on GNU's mission means expanding our focus to protect users of networked computers. This includes prioritizing the development of replacements for Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS), as well as encryption and privacy protecting software. GNU is going to need more infrastructure, support, and coordination to be successful at this new goal.
Free software developers all over the world rely on GNU's infrastructure to build software that protects user freedom both online and offline. As the fiscal sponsor of GNU, the FSF provides this scaffolding, everything from maintaining server space for developers on Savannah, to hosting https://ftp.gnu.org/, which provides bandwidth for GNU downloads. All of these developer tools are run with entirely free software. FSF staff and volunteers also assist GNU projects with fundraising, promotion. and licensing, and enforce the GPL on their behalf.
We need your support to do all of this work on a larger scale. Can you give $30 to help us expand GNU in 2014?
GNU started as a way to guarantee user control over the software running on their local machine. But now, that's no longer enough. In an always-on networked world, machines elsewhere pose just as much of a threat to user freedom, even if we have complete control over what is sitting in front of us. GNU needs to -- and is -- evolving to meet this challenge.
As the GNU system turns thirty, free software and its philosophy are more relevant than ever, but there is still work to be done.
Will you help to ensure a bright future for the GNU system by donating $30 today?
Sincerely,
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation

GNU turn thirty!

Can you believe it? The GNU system is thirty years old today!
In 1983, Richard Stallman launched the free software movement with the words, "Free Unix!" We've freed a lot more than that in the last thirty years. The GNU system is now a vast universe of fully free operating systems, window managers, and software that serves almost every imaginable purpose. More than 95 percent of the world's supercomputers run free software. A majority of web servers run free software. Even more impressive, there are estimated to be tens of millions of free software users worldwide.
That's a lot to celebrate. This weekend, the Free Software Foundation will be honoring thirty years of GNU with a celebration and hackathon in Cambridge, MA. Around the world, there are over eighteen celebrations planned on almost every inhabited continent. And online, people are showing their love for GNU by embedding the special 30th anniversary badge on their websites and donating to support GNU's future work.
Please join us in the celebration:

• Watch the livestream from the Cambridge celebration to see John Sullivan speak at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) and Richard Stallman speak live at 5pm EDT (21:00 UTC) on Saturday, September 28.
• Find the celebration nearest you.
• Embed the special 30th anniversary badge.
• Donate to keep GNU going strong for another thirty years.

Happy Hacking,
The entire Free Software Foundation team

Only two weeks until GNU turns thirty!

GNU turns thirty in less than two weeks! Wherever you live, we hope you'll join us for our big anniversary celebration and hackathon on September 28 - 29.
GNU lovers from all over the world will converge on MIT in Cambridge, MA for cake, coding, and a special address from Richard Stallman. If you want to attend the event in person, there is still time to register! If you'll be watching online, be sure to tune in to the event page on Saturday the 28th at 17:00 EDT.
Ten projects will be hosting hackathons during the celebration: Commotion, coreboot, Gnash, GNOME, GNU FM, GNU MediaGoblin, GNU Octave, GNU social, Tahoe-LAFS, and Tor. Most of these hackathons will have an online presence as well, so visit the event page on September 28th to participate virtually.
And for those of you who'd like to make sure GNU begins its next decade in its strongest financial position ever, we encourage you to consider donating or attending our special fundraising dinner on September 27th at Rendezvous in Cambridge.
Of course, if you're in it for the cake, you'll have to be at the celebration in person. And you won't want to miss the opportunity to meet many early contributors to GNU, project maintainers, privacy and security experts, and more. So, register today, book that last minute plane ticket, mark your calendars, and tell your friends. We'll see you in Boston!
Happy hacking,
Libby Reinish
Campaigns Manager
P.S. We are collecting well wishes for GNU from around the world. Send us a picture of yourself with an anniversary greeting (we recommend a sign that says, "I <3 GNU!").

You're Invited: GNU 30th anniversary celebration and hackathon

Dear Pascal,
Are GNU ready to party?

It's been 30 years since the GNU manifesto was penned. What began as frustration over a printer driver has grown into a massive social movement. The GNU system itself has exploded; not only is it a fully free operating system, but it has expanded to include an entire universe of software. Now, GNU is on the threshold of another amazing leap, and we want you to be a part of it.
You're Invited: GNU 30th anniversary celebration and hackathon
Featuring Richard Stallman
When: Saturday and Sunday, September 28 - 29, from 10am until midnight. Special fundraising dinner to be held on Friday, September 27th.
Where: MIT, Cambridge, MA
RSVP: Registration is now open!
GNU's 30th will be an opportunity for free software legends and enthusiastic newcomers to tackle important challenges together, while toasting to the GNU system's success. That's why this 30th anniversary event is more than just a celebration, it's also a hackathon. This event isn't just for programmers either; there will also be opportunities to contribute in many other ways besides writing code, such as a Free Software Directory sprint, crypto workshops, and much more. Come join us in developing and documenting free software for our Web-based world, with a focus on federated publishing and communication services, as well as tools to protect privacy and anonymity. Plus, it has cake and coding; what could be better?
And of course, you'll want to be in the room when Richard Stallman makes a highly anticipated announcement about the future direction of GNU.
Register now!
The anniversary celebration is a chance to come together with other free software supporters to launch GNU on the path to another successful decade. In addition to contributing code and documentation, consider joining us for a special fundraising dinner on Friday, September 27th. Give back to GNU while enjoying a delicious meal with Richard Stallman, Bradley Kuhn, and John Sullivan. More details about the fundraising dinner will be available soon, and a limited number of tickets will be available. To reserve advance tickets, please email campaigns@fsf.org.
See you in Boston,
Libby Reinish
Free Software Foundation, on behalf of GNU
P.S. Can't make it to Boston? 30th anniversary satellite celebrations will be held around the world. If you'd like to be notified if a satellite event is planned in our area, sign up for our GNU 30th satellite event notifications list.

Activists trick-or-treat for free software at Windows 8 launch event

by Zak Rogoff — Published on Oct 25, 2012 12:29 PM

New York, New York, USA -- Thursday, October 25th, 2012 -- Today visitors to the primary Windows 8 launch event were greeted by an unexpected and uninvited visitor -- a gnu. Activists, one dressed as the free software movement's buffalo-like mascot, converged on Microsoft's event to distribute pamphlets about the hidden dangers of Microsoft's latest proprietary creation. The Halloween-themed action included plastic pumpkin buckets full of DVDs loaded with Trisquel, a free software distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Standing with the gnu, Libby Reinish, FSF campaigns manager, explained why it was necessary to make Windows 8's restrictions on freedom a big part of the conversation around the operating system: "Microsoft has already spent almost two billion dollars on slick advertisements to convince people that Windows 8 will revolutionize the way they use computers. The fact is, it's basically Windows 7 with new surveillance 'features' and even more restrictions on users' freedom. Whether or not Microsoft wants you to know it, it's easy to switch to free software instead of choosing a downgrade to your rights as a computer user -- for example, your rights to know what the system is doing and to change behaviors you don't like. We're here because we want people to know that they don't have to buy Windows 8 -- this is a great time to upgrade to free 'as in freedom' software."

Today's action is the beginning of a new FSF campaign around Windows 8, which will track the proprietary operating system over the coming months and continue to cut through the marketing hype to explain the problems with the OS. The FSF plans to launch a Web site with a full-scale campaign, including grassroots participation, and future physical and online actions. The initial home of the campaign ishttp://www.fsf.org/windows8, where visitors are invited to sign an online pledge to skip Windows 8 and upgrade their computers to a free software operating system.

FSF executive director John Sullivan discussed his plans for the campaign: "There's been plenty of talk in the media about whether Windows 8 will be annoying because it has no 'Start' button or because its Internet desktop will make it slow and glitchy. The deeper problem is that it is restrictive and damaging to your freedom as a computer user. We will make sure that, no matter what Microsoft's advertising is focused on, computer users still have a chance to learn about the fundamental issues with proprietary operating systems, and about the path to something better."

The campaign comes at a time when SOPA/PIPA and CISPA have thrust Internet freedom issues into the spotlight. The FSF applauds this focus on computer users' rights, but believes it also requires a focus on free operating systems. Even when Web sites do not restrict and spy on their users, operating systems increasingly do. A truly free Internet, they say, cannot exist unless it is accessed with a free operating system.

What is a GNU/Linux user group?

What is GNU/Linux?

To fully appreciate LUGs' role in the GNU/Linux movement, it helps to understand what makes GNU/Linux unique.
GNU/Linux as an operating system is powerful -- but GNU/Linux as an idea about software development is even more so. GNU/Linux is a free operating system: It's licensed under the GNU General Public Licence. Thus, source code is freely available in perpetuity to anyone. It's maintained by a unstructured group of programmers world-wide, under technical direction from Linus Torvalds and other key developers. GNU/Linux as a movement has no central structure, bureaucracy, or other entity to direct its affairs. While this situation has advantages, it poses challenges for allocation of human resources, effective advocacy, public relations, user education, and training.
(This HOWTO credits the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project as the crucial motive force behind creating and furthering a free aka open source integrated system. Thus, it refers to "distributions" comprising the GNU operating system atop the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux". Yes, the term is awkward, and FSF's request for credit isn't widely honoured; but the justice of FSF's claim is obvious.)

How is GNU/Linux unique?

GNU/Linux's loose structure is unlikely to change. That's a good thing: It works precisely because people are free to come and go as they please: Free programmers are happy programmers are effective programmers.
However, this loose structure can disorient the new user: Whom does she call for support, training, or education? How does she know what GNU/Linux is suitable for?
In part, LUGs provide the answers, which is why LUGs are vital to the movement: Because your town, village, or metropolis sports no Linux Corporation "regional office", the LUG takes on many of the same roles a regional office does for a large multi-national corporation.
GNU/Linux is unique in neither having nor being burdened by central structures or bureaucracies to allocate its resources, train its users, and support its products. These jobs get done through diverse means: the Internet, consultants, VARs, support companies, colleges, and universities. However, increasingly, in many places around the globe, they are done by a LUG.

Read more :

 What is a user group?

'Hadoop Alternative' to Be Open Sourced

IDG News Service (06/15/11) Chris Kanaracus

LexisNexis will open source its HPCC Systems supercomputing platform and offer developers an alternative to the Hadoop framework for large-scale data processing. The platform operates on clusters of commodity hardware and is comprised of components oriented around LexisNexis' Enterprise Control Language. The company says that data extraction, transformation, and loading tasks are managed by a component dubbed Thor, while a third system called Roxie delivers "highly scalable, high-performance online query processing and data warehouse capabilities." The system is capable of analyzing petabyte-sized data volumes "significantly faster and more accurately than current technology systems," scaling up to thousands of nodes, according to LexisNexis. Both a community edition and a commercial enterprise edition of HPCC Systems will be released by LexisNexis. HPCC Systems will initially be offered as a virtual machine for testing by the developer community, with full binaries and the source code to be released some weeks later. The community version will be issued under the GNU Affero GPL v3 license, while new code contributed by LexisNexis and community members will go to the open source edition first, according to LexisNexis.

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