LinuxPower: A History Lesson for GNU Detractors | Linux Today

LinuxPower: A History Lesson for GNU Detractors

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Nov 25, 1999

“GNU was founded long before Linus Torvalds started working
on what was to become the Linux kernel
, and they had already
created a long list of the tools necessary for making an OS… All
these tools and utilities compromise a much larger body of code
than the kernel itself…”

“Now over to the detractors who claim that GNU is communistic or
anti-business. This is also as wrong as it can be. GNU has been
doing business based on its software almost from the beginning, by
selling tapes and CD-ROMs with GNU software and printed manuals.
They have also verbally supported and encouraged the establishment
of companies that make a living of supporting and/or developing
free software like VA Research, Cygnus and Redhat.”

Complete
story
.

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.