Twenty five years ago this month, a man called Richard Stallman announced to the world his intention to create a complete operating system from the ground up. He called it, GNU, which stands for GNU’s Not Unix.

To help celebrate this occasion, I’ve made a video to tell you about GNU, and free software.



Stephen Fry wishing GNU a very Happy Birthday

You can watch the video over at gnu.org, download gNewSense to try it for yourself, and download a copy of the video for posterity.


All the videos are provided in the free Ogg Theora format. Join Play Ogg and support free media formats.

“Stephen has generously donated his time to the cause of free software. His ability to communicate a technological and philosophical movement in terms of the basic principles of sharing and user freedom — ideas that everyone can understand — will introduce a new and broader audience to the benefits of free software,” said Matt Lee, an FSF campaigns manager and writer/producer of the film.

The video is available for download at http://www.gnu.org, and the FSF is encouraging supporters to share it as widely as possible. Many have already posted an image of me linking back to the video on their blogs and web sites. The film will also be distributed as an update to gNewSense users.