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.