# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/gnu/road-to-gnu.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: road-to-gnu.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2025-01-09 06:25+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "The Road to GNU - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "The Road to GNU" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Richard Stallman describes the experiences that prepared him to fight for a " "free software world." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Around April 1983, Stallman wrote an <a " "href=\"http://catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg150.txt\">introduction to " "<cite>The Happy Hacker - A Dictionary of Computer Slang</cite></a>. In it, " "he talks about his experiences at the MIT AI Lab and the Lisp Machine " "Wars. He also details how Emacs was developed. The text below is an <a " "href=\"http://www.lysator.liu.se/history/garb/txt/87-2-rms.txt\">updated " "version from late 1983</a>, shortly after the <a " "href=\"/gnu/initial-announcement.html\">initial announcement</a> of GNU." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><h3> msgid "Table of contents" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "<a href=\"#ai-lab\">The Artificial Intelligence Lab</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "" "<a href=\"#philosophy-manifest\">Philosophy Manifest in the Lab's " "Achievements</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "<a href=\"#printer-name\">What's Your Printer's Name?</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "<a href=\"#betrayed\">The Lab Betrayed</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "<a href=\"#war\">War Breaks Out</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><ul><li> msgid "<a href=\"#where\">Where Do I Go Now?</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p><small> msgid "<small>Machine Room Folk Dance, Thursday at 8 PM" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p><small> msgid "Come Celebrate the Joy of Programming," msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p><small> msgid "with the World's Most Enjoyable Computers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "There were only five of us dancing, but we had a good time.</small>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "My first experience with computers was with manuals for various languages " "that I borrowed from counselors at camp. I would write programs on paper " "just because of the fascination of the concept of programming. I had to " "strain to think of what the programs should do, because I had nothing to " "supply me with a goal except that I wanted to program. I wrote programs to " "add up the cubes of a table of numbers in several assembler languages at " "various times." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The first actual computers I met were IBM 360's, at the IBM New York " "Scientific Center, when I was a student in high school. There I quickly " "developed interest in language design, operating systems and text editors. " "Hired for the summer to write a boring numerical analysis program in " "Fortran, I surprised my boss by finishing it after a couple of weeks and " "spent the rest of the summer writing a text editor in APL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I also quickly manifested a lack of proper reverence for authority. The " "whole center had been denied access to the IBM computer in the building, and " "we had to use slow telephone connections to the Cambridge Scientific " "Center. One day an IBM executive came to tell us about the work various IBM " "scientific centers were doing, and finished with, “<i>Of course you " "all know the important work being done here.</i>” I asked him, " "“<i>If our work is so important, why can't we use the computer in this " "building any more?</i>” After the meeting, my friends told me they had " "wanted to say such a thing but were afraid of reprisals! Why? Certainly " "nothing happened to me as a result. They seem to have learned the habit of " "cowering before authority even when not actually threatened. How very nice " "for authority. I decided not to learn this particular lesson." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The Artificial Intelligence Lab" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The New York Scientific Center closed down just in time for me to move away " "to college. I found that the Cambridge Scientific Center wasn't interested " "in me, which was very lucky for me, because it spared me from remaining " "ignorant of the far superior non-IBM computers, especially the PDP-10 and " "PDP-11 from Digital. Awake now to the fact that all computers were not " "equal fun, I sniffed around for the most enjoyable ones, and found them at " "the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. There a bunch of people who termed " "themselves “hackers” had created their own timesharing system, " "the Incompatible Timesharing System, designed specifically to facilitate " "hacking. ITS and all the utility programs (including the debugging program " "DDT which was also the “shell” called HACTRN) were maintained " "right there. I came by looking for documentation of their system (how naive " "of me). I left without any documentation since it didn't exist, but with a " "summer job instead. I had been hired by an engineer/administrator, Russel " "Noftsker—ironically, the same man who was later to play a primary role " "in the lab's ruin. The job became permanent and lasts to this day." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Once I showed I was competent, I had free rein of the entire operating " "system, an opportunity to learn and be productive that few labs and no " "company would have given me. The hackers' attitude was, “<i>If you " "can do a good job, go right ahead—whoever you are.</i>”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "With the AI lab as a comparison, I came to see how little freedom and how " "many unnecessary difficulties people had elsewhere. At IBM, and at Harvard, " "power was very unequally distributed. A few people gave orders and the rest " "(if they were not me) took them. Professors would have their own terminals, " "which were usually idle, while the rest of us often could not work because " "there were too few shared terminals. People would ask, “<i>Are you " "authorized to do this</i>,” rather than, “<i>Do you know how to " "do this? Is it constructive?</i>” They would rather have a job done by " "an authorized moron than by an unknown genius. I ceased to frequent " "Harvard's computer lab because MIT was so much better. (I was majoring in " "physics; there was no need for a natural hacker to take formal classes in " "computers, as hacking challenging programs among good hackers is a better " "training)." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AI lab attitude was different. We had a tradition of breaking open the " "door of any professor who dared to lock up a terminal in his office. They " "would come back to an open door and a note saying, “<i>Please don't " "make us waste our time unlocking this terminal.</i>” The terminals are " "there to be used, and they are wasted if they are idle. We extended the same " "attitude to computer time. The PDP-10 executes 300,000 instructions every " "second. If no user asks for them, it spends them on counting how long it has " "had nothing useful to do. It's better for them to be used by anyone at all " "for any constructive purpose, than to be wasted. So we allowed " "“tourists”—guest users—as long as they did not get " "in the way. We encouraged them to learn about the system, looking for the " "few who would become hackers and join us. There are at least two lab staff " "members and one MIT professor who got started this way." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I found that the computer systems reflected these differences in attitudes " "between organizations. For example, most computer systems are designed with " "security features that allow a few people to tell everyone else what they " "can and can't do. The few have the power and nobody can challenge it. We " "hackers called this “fascism” because such computer systems " "really have the social organization of totalitarian police states." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In order to prevent the users from turning off the security, a fortress must " "be erected around the system programs. Every possible avenue through the " "walls has to be guarded, or the downtrodden masses will sneak through. It " "turns out to be impossible for the computer to distinguish between sneaking " "through the walls and many other activities that people frequently need to " "do in order to do their jobs. Since maintaining security is more important " "than getting work done, all such activities are forbidden. The result is " "that you must frequently ask one of the elite to do something for you that " "you aren't allowed to do. If he doesn't like you or anything about you, or " "if he wants a bribe, he can make your job twice as hard as it really ought " "to be with hardly any effort." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It's taken for granted that only the elite will be allowed to modify or " "install any system programs lest the underlings sneak in a “trojan " "horse” to turn off the security. (This restriction is enforced using " "“file protection.”) Just the opposite of the AI lab where a " "tourist working on system programs meant he was starting to make himself " "useful and become a hacker. Their way fewer people can contribute to " "improving the system, and the users learn a fatalistic, despairing attitude " "toward system deficiencies. They learn the mental outlook of a slave." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "At a place like Digital Equipment, even the people whose job it is to " "improve the system have to contend with so much bureaucracy that their " "effectiveness and morale are halved. As Robert Townsend said in “Up " "the Organization,” most institutions demoralize their workers and " "waste their potential by hindering them from doing their jobs well. " "Security and privileges are the way it is done on a computer system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Most people accept such regimes because they expect jobs to be onerous and " "hope for nothing from their jobs except money. But for the hackers hacking " "was more than “just” a job, it was a way of life. The original " "hackers made sure they would have no such problems by omitting security and " "file protection from the design of the system. Users of our system were " "free men, asked to behave responsibly. Instead of an elite of power, we had " "an elite of knowledge, composed of whoever was motivated to learn. Since " "nobody could dominate others on our machine, the lab ran as an anarchy. The " "visible success of this converted me to anarchism <a " "href=\"#ft1\">[1]</a>. To most people, “anarchy” means " "“wasteful, destructive disorder,” but to an anarchist like me it " "means voluntary organization as needed, with emphasis on goals, not rules " "and no insistence on uniformity for uniformity's sake. Anarchism does not " "mean advocating a dog-eat-dog jungle. American society is already a " "dog-eat-dog jungle, and its rules maintain it that way. We wish to replace " "these rules with a concern for constructive cooperation." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The file protection on most computer systems means that great attention is " "paid to how you can restrict who can do what to your files. Users are " "taught to expect that file protection is all that stands between them and " "having their work destroyed every day. We hackers, who lived happily for " "years without file protection and did not feel we were missing anything " "called their attitude “paranoia.” It was extremely useful that " "everything in the system was accessible; this meant a bug could not hide in " "a file you were not allowed to fix." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We carried these attitudes into programming language design as well. " "Consider the “structured programming” movement, with its " "“ban the GOTO” platform. These people said, “<i>All you " "programmers except we few are [in]competent. We know how you should " "program. We will design languages that force you to program that way, then " "we will force you to use them.</i>” We hackers felt that a more " "appropriate way to improve programming languages was to identify and provide " "constructs that were easier to use; to help the user write good programs " "rather than hassle him if he might be writing a bad one. And we provided " "the facilities so that users could create their own constructs if they did " "not like the ones we provided." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Philosophy Manifest in the Lab's Achievements" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AI lab attitudes are an intrinsic part of my best-known work, the EMACS " "full-screen editor (to which Guy Steele and others also contributed). " "Nowadays full-screen editors (“word processing” programs) are " "common, and are found on every home computer. In 1973, display terminals " "were more expensive than printers, so most people still used printing " "terminals, and those who had display terminals usually used them as if they " "were printing terminals (that is, as “GLASS TTY”'s). The AI lab " "had displays but no screen editor yet." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "EMACS is unusual among screen editors because it is powerful and " "extensible. EMACS contains its own programming facility which I used to " "provide commands that other editors don't have, and which users use to " "provide any commands they want which I didn't give them. Users can make " "libraries of commands and share them, and when they do a good job, the " "libraries become part of the standard EMACS system just by being included in " "the manual." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Many other editors have had “macro” facilities. EMACS has a " "programming language for writing editor commands, completely separate from " "the usual editing language. Because it does not have to be an editing " "language, it can be a much better programming language, good for writing " "complicated programs. The second ingredient is to make no distinction " "between the implementor and the user. Nearly all the “built in” " "commands of EMACS are written just like user extensions. Each user can " "replace them or change them for himself." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The development of EMACS followed a path that illustrates the nature of the " "lab. When I came to the lab, the editor was TECO, a printing-terminal " "editor with some more programming facilities than other editors. The user " "would type a command string of many commands, and then TECO would execute " "it. On a display terminal, TECO knew how to redisplay the text of the file " "after each command string. The natural way to provide screen editing was to " "add it to TECO and adapt the existing redisplay mechanism." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Originally, the screen editor was just one of TECO's commands. Its power " "was very limited, and if you needed to do anything fancy, such as save the " "file on disk or search for a string, you would exit from the screen editor " "and use regular TECO for a while. Then a user suggested that I provide a " "couple of screen-editor commands that the user could hook up to a saved TECO " "command string or “macro.” In implementing this, I discovered " "that it was just as easy to let the user replace any of the screen editor's " "commands with a saved TECO command string." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This touched off an explosion. Everybody and his brother was writing his " "own collection of redefined screen-editor commands, a command for everything " "he typically liked to do. People would pass them around and improve them, " "making them more powerful and more general. The collections of " "redefinitions gradually became system programs in their own right. Their " "scope increased, so that there was less and less reason ever to use TECO for " "actual editing. It became just a programming language for writing editors. " "We started to categorize it mentally as a programming language rather than " "as an editor with programming as an extra feature, and this meant comparing " "it with other programming languages instead of other editors. The result " "was a demand for many features that other programming languages had. I " "improved TECO in this way while other hackers used the new features to " "improve their editors written in TECO." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "After about two years of this wild evolution, Guy Steele decided it was time " "to write one editor that would combine the best ideas of all the rest. We " "started together, but he soon drifted off to his other interests. I called " "the editor EMACS, for “<i>editing macros</i>.” Besides, I wanted " "the name of the new editor to have a single-letter abbreviation, and " "“E” was one of the letters not already in use." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Thus, the standard EMACS command language was the result of years of " "experimenation by many user-maintainers on their own editors, something " "possible only because of extensibility and the AI lab's attitude of " "encouraging users to add to the system. On the fateful day when I gave " "users the power to redefine their own screen editors, I didn't know that it " "would lead to an earth-shaking new editor. I was following the AI lab " "heuristic that it is always good to give the user more power. AI lab " "attitudes then encouraged users to use the power and to share what they " "produced thereby." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I worked on EMACS for about five years, distributing it to everyone free " "with the condition that they give back all extensions they made, so as to " "help EMACS improve. I called this arrangement the “EMACS " "commune.” As I shared, it was their duty to share, to work with each " "other rather than against. EMACS is now used at all the best university " "computer science departments and lots of other places. It's also been " "imitated about ten times. Sad to say, many of these imitations lack the " "real essence of EMACS, which is its extensibility; they are “ersatz " "EMACSes” which imitate the superficial appearance only." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Nowadays EMACS users hardly ever edit with TECO, and most don't even know " "TECO. In fact, I've forgotten how to edit with TECO. I got so used to " "thinking in terms of programming with TECO that on a few rare occasions when " "I needed to edit with it I was at a loss for a minute or so. The reflexes " "were all gone." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I've noticed that one sign that an editor improvement is a valuable one is " "when, after using it for a couple of weeks, I forget how to do without it. " "This proves it must have required a great effort to keep in practice to do " "things the old way." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I don't think that anything like EMACS could have been developed " "commercially. Businesses have the wrong attitudes. The primary axiom of " "the commercial world toward users is that they are incompetent, and that if " "they have any control over their system they will mess it up. The primary " "goal is to give them nothing specific to complain about, not to give them a " "means of helping themselves. This is the same as why the FDA would rather " "kill a thousand people by keeping drugs off the market than one person by " "releasing a drug by mistake. The secondary goal is to give managers power " "over users, because it's the managers who decide which system to buy, not " "the users. If a corporate editor has any means for extensibility, they will " "probably let your manager decide things for you and give you no control at " "all. For both of these reasons, a company would never have designed an " "editor with which users could experiment as MIT users did, and they would " "not have been able to build on the results of the experiments to produce an " "EMACS. In addition, the company would not like to give you the source code, " "and without that, it is much harder to write extensions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "What's Your Printer's Name?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "When I was installing a new typeface for the EMACS manual on a laser printer " "system at the lab, I noticed that the initialization menu included a slot " "for changing the printer's name, which appeared on the cover sheet of each " "user's output. (This feature was important if you had more than one printer " "and wanted to know which one had produced your output.) Our printer had the " "cutesy and meaningless name “Tremont.” It was my duty as a " "hacker to replace it with something more fun. I chose “Kafka,” " "to bring up disturbing associations. (Did you hear about the man who woke " "up as a laser printer one morning?)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For the next few days, other hackers kept talking about the new name, and " "suggesting additional amusing names (“Treemunch,” " "“Thesiscrunch,” “Cthulhu,” …). I tried each " "name for a few days, while collecting more suggestions. It was great fun " "for just about everyone. The one exception was a professor who told me that " "I was not authorized to do this, and that I should stop. I replied that I " "knew first-hand that people were having fun as a result, and therefore I " "ought to continue, at least as long as the suggestions held up. Finally, I " "told him, in stern and official terms, that he was not authorized to say " "that hacking was unauthorized." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The poor guy didn't let it end there. He said, “<i>If you think " "renaming the printer is so much fun, why don't you rename the " "PDP-10's?</i>” This was a truly brilliant idea, for which I remain " "grateful. The next day, the DM PDP-10 (home of Zork) was called " "“Dungeon Modelling” instead of “Dynamic Modelling”; " "the ML PDP-10 (used for research in mathematics and in medical decision " "making) was called “Medical Liability” instead of “Math " "Lab”; the MC PDP-10 was “Maximum Confusion” instead of " "“MACSYMA Consortium”; and the AI PDP-10 was called " "“Anarchists International” instead of “Artificial " "Intelligence.” I didn't hear any more complaints." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The Lab Betrayed" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There is still an institution named the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, and " "I still work there, but its old virtues are gone. It was dealt a murderous " "blow by a spin-off company, and this has changed its nature fundamentally " "and (I believe) permanently." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For years, only we at the AI lab, and a few other labs, appreciated the best " "in software. When we spoke of the virtues of Lisp, other programmers " "laughed at us, though with little knowledge of what they were talking " "about. We ignored them and went on with our work. They said we were in an " "ivory tower." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Then parts of the “real world” realized that we had been right " "all along about Lisp. Great commercial interest in Lisp appeared. This was " "the beginning of the end." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AI lab had just developed a computer called the Lisp machine, a personal " "computer with a large virtual address space so that it could run very large " "Lisp programs. Now people wanted the machine to be produced commercially so " "that everyone else could have them. The inventor of the Lisp machine, " "arch-hacker Richard Greenblatt, made plans for an unconventional hacker " "company which would grow slowly but steadily, not use hype, and be less " "gluttonous and ruthless than your standard American corporation. His goal " "was to provide an alternative way of supporting hackers and hacking and to " "provide the world with Lisp machines and good software, rather than simply " "to maximize profits. This meant doing without most outside investment, " "since investors would insist on conventional methods. This company is Lisp " "Machines Incorporated, generally called LMI." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Other people on the Lisp machine project believed this would not work, and " "criticized Greenblatt's lack of business experience. In response, " "Greenblatt brought in his friend Noftsker, who had left the lab for industry " "some years before. Noftsker was considered experienced in business. He " "quickly demonstrated the correctness of this impression with a most " "businesslike stab in the back: he and the other hackers dropped Greenblatt " "to form another company. Their plan was to seek large amounts of " "investment, grow as rapidly as possible, make a big splash, and the devil " "take anybody or anything drowned in it. Though the hackers would only get a " "small fraction of the fortunes the company planned to make, even that much " "would make them rich! They didn't even have to work any harder. They just " "had to stop cooperating with others as they had used to." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This resulted in two competing Lisp machine companies: Greenblatt's LMI and " "Noftsker's Symbolics (generally called “Slime” or " "“Bolix” around the Al lab). All the hackers of the AI lab were " "associated with one or the other, except me because even LMI involved moral " "compromises I didn't want to make. For example, Greenblatt is against " "proprietary operating system software but approves of proprietary " "applications software; I don't want to refuse to share either kind of " "program.<a href=\"#ft2\">[2]</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Symbolics proceeded directly to get millions of dollars of investment and " "persistently hire away everyone at MIT not welded down. Greenblatt had " "envisioned people working part time at LMI and part time at the AI lab, in " "order to minimize the trauma to the lab. Symbolics made accusations of " "conflict of interest, forcing the LMI people to leave MIT as well. Suddenly " "I was the last hacker, and one person was not enough. The lab was dying." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I strongly suspect that the destruction of the AI lab was a deliberate act. " "Once a businessman gets a golden egg, he kills the goose to make sure he has " "a monopoly." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It is painful for me to bring back the memories of this time. The people " "remaining at the lab were the professors, students and non-hacker " "researchers, who did not know how to maintain the system or the hardware, or " "want to know. Machines began to break and never be fixed <a " "href=\"#ft3\">[3]</a>; sometimes they just got thrown out. Needed changes " "to software could not be made. The non-hackers reacted to this by turning " "to commercial systems bringing with them fascism and license agreements. " "<span id=\"my-poor-ai-lab\">I used to wander through the lab</span>, through " "the rooms so empty at night where they used to be full and think, " "“<i>Oh, my poor AI lab, you are dying and I can't save you.</i>” " "Everyone expected that if more hackers were trained, Symbolics would hire " "them away, so it didn't even seem worth trying. The lab administration made " "no effort to rally us, and the MIT administration acted as moneygrubbing as " "a profit-making company, further demoralizing people." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In the past, hackers had gone from time to time, but new ones had been " "trained to replace them by the ones who remained. Now the whole culture was " "wiped out, there was not enough left to provide a model for a new person, " "and no greatness to draw the best people here. For example, hackers used to " "eat dinner together (usually Chinese) every day. No one person was there " "every day, but you could count on finding other people to eat with at dinner " "time. Now this practice disintegrated, and when people could no longer " "expect to find others to eat with, they would not plan to show up hungry at " "the usual times, thus compounding the effect." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The whole AI lab used to have one common phone number and a public address " "system. (The phone's extension was 6765, and we answered it " "“6765,” or “Fibonacci of 20,” since 6765 is the 20th " "Fibonacci number.) It was easy to call and reach anyone and everyone. Now " "most of the people and terminals have moved to other floors where 6765 does " "not reach, and the 9th floor, the lab's original heart, is filling up with " "machines. This change is further reducing the lab's social cohesion. Now I " "can't even call up and find out if anyone is hungry and nobody can get in " "touch with me on the phone." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Thus I lost all at once my social network, my opportunity to pursue my " "career in an upright fashion, and most of what I had helped to build. I " "felt that I was the last survivor of an extinct tribe, doomed to spend my " "life among uncomprehending strangers. There was not much chance of building " "a new lab with the AI lab's good qualities if an existing and previously " "healthy one could not survive the pressure. The computer industry would not " "be disposed to let me share with other hackers as the golden rule requires. " "I began looking for a new career that would not involve computers, but " "didn't expect to find one, and saw no future except to work on accounting " "programs or other things that no hacker (including me) would be interested " "in. It would be a pointless life, but at least I would not have the shame " "of refusing to share with other hackers if they would not want what I was " "doing. I wasn't sure this was better than a more direct form of suicide." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For about a year there were LMI, Symbolics, and the remains of the AI lab. " "The Lisp machine operating system was shared by all three. From time to " "time the Symbolics hackers would respond to a bug report by saying, " "“<i>This cannot be fixed on the current system. Wait for our new " "machine.</i>” This was to make the new machine sound like more of an " "improvement. It was great fun for me to announce, shortly thereafter, that " "I had already fixed the bug." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "War Breaks Out" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But things were to get worse, because LMI was not the failure that Symbolics " "had vocably predicted. It was making and selling Lisp machines, and selling " "them for a lot less than Symbolics, which had a giant investment to recoup " "and so many salaries to pay. After about a year, Symbolics realized that " "its well-advertised inevitable triumph would not happen without more violent " "measures. Their plan: to end the three-way sharing of software " "improvements. Since LMI was much smaller, they expected that LMI would be " "unable to keep up with them. (The AI lab was no longer considered a " "significant contributor.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Symbolics demanded that the AI lab submit to new terms: to use improvements " "made by Symbolics but not share them with LMI <a " "href=\"#ft4\">[4]</a>. This demand was announced, Newspeak style, as a " "great act of generosity. Actually, even allowing MIT to continue using " "their improvements was simply another tactic, designed to lock the lab in, " "so it would provide bug reports and demos for them and buy from them alone. " "This is not an unusual motivation. Many companies donate computers they " "make to MIT for just this reason. But usually they try to gain MIT's " "cooperation by generosity rather than by cracking the whip." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Symbolics doubtless expected the lab to cave in immediately and switch " "entirely to their brand of software. But I refused to capitulate, refused " "to be conscripted into helping Symbolics against LMI. LMI was more worthy " "of my aid. No longer allowed to remain neutral, I would fight against those " "who forced me to fight <a href=\"#ft5\">[5]</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Instead of using the improvements from Symbolics, I made similar " "improvements to the last shared system. Most of the lab's users continued " "to use the MIT system; some through dislike of Symbolics, some because they " "considered it technically superior, and some because they were more free to " "change it. For the past year and a half I've been doing this, keeping the " "MIT system just as good and sometimes better. Since LMI gets to use all the " "improvements I make, LMI too has a system just as good. The main result of " "Symbolics's refusal to share was a lot of hassles for the users due to " "incompatibilities between the two systems." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Generally I let Symbolics design a new feature, then look over their " "documentation and implement something mostly compatible. I could improve " "the system just as well without paying attention to them, but this would be " "a bad strategy. They could copy my improvements verbatim and spend their " "time on additional improvements. Or they could ignore my design and " "implement something similar but incompatible, making trouble for all the " "users. Just as in a bicycle race it is much less work if you are right " "behind the other guy. As one man racing against a large team, I need this " "advantage. I can easily dart out in front, but that is not an efficient use " "of my energy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Symbolics fights back by threatening lawsuits (though they have not filed " "one) and by trying to get me fired. Rumor has it they read my computer mail " "several times a day looking for something to accuse me of; once they were " "caught and it backfired against them. (It is against my principles to stop " "them with security measures that punish everyone.) They think it is bad if " "anyone gets something for nothing; better that something should go to waste " "than that it benefit their competition equally with them. This is the kind " "of divisiveness that has paralyzed our country." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "By working against Symbolics this way, I not only escape having to submit to " "their terms, I also help bring about justice and the punishment they deserve " "for destroying the old AI lab. Initially I hoped also to provide a nucleus " "of self-sufficiency to revitalize the lab. But nobody joined me; everyone " "sticks to his research now." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Where Do I Go Now?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Symbolics never did achieve superiority in software, but their new, faster " "machine was ready sooner than LMI's new, faster machine. Now they have " "delivered many of these to MIT, and my users are switching to them. Using " "the MIT system version on those machines is not practical because the " "machines are too different." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The loss of users makes it hard for me to verify that my new software really " "works. But with luck I will be able to hang on just long enough to keep " "Symbolics from winning in the end. LMI has just begun deliveries. Soon " "they'll be very successful and supporting system development themselves, and " "Symbolics will be stuck with lean and aggressive competition. Once LMI is " "able to go on without my help, the eventual punishment of Symbolics will be " "fully arranged. Then I can stop work on Lisp machines. I have set " "Thanksgiving of this year as the time to stop." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "And once I've arranged the punishment of the wrongdoers, it is time for me " "to begin rebuilding what they destroyed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It cannot be rebuilt at the AI lab. MIT attempts to license anything useful " "that is done here, to stay here and keep sharing is a struggle in itself. " "And being surrounded by Symbolics machines and semicompetent sell-outs is no " "fun anyway. I need to make a fresh start in life, and the first step is to " "move away from the ruins of the past. Therefore, I am going to quit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It cannot be rebuilt by working on Lisp machines. MIT claims to own the " "Lisp machine software, so it can only be shared secretly. (LMI is an " "exception; they have a contract with MIT.) Such underground cooperation is " "better than none at all, but it cannot produce a new way of life. That " "requires open, public, widespread cooperation. It seemed righter to work on " "the Lisp machine system than to let Symbolics win by default, but it is not " "a good way to live any longer than necessary. For the same reason, I cannot " "work for LMI, even though they are willing to let my work be partly public. " "I can make compromises in fighting a war, but when it comes to building " "something good such compromise is useless, since it would make whatever I " "build fail to be good." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Instead I have chosen an ambitious project that strikes at the root of the " "way that the commercial, hostile way of life is maintained. I am going to " "write GNU, a complete replacement for the Unix software system (kernel, " "compilers, utilities and documentation), to be given away free to everyone." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "GNU will make it easy for hackers to decide to live by sharing and " "cooperation. Making use of a computer requires a software system. Now, " "with no free software systems available, it is a tremendous sacrifice to " "refuse to use owned software. But once a desirable software system is " "available free, that pressure will be forever lifted. Hackers will be free " "to share." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I start on Thanksgiving. I'm asking computer manufacturers for donations to " "the cause, but I'm going to do it even if I have to work as a waiter. " "Already other programmers who miss the old ways are rallying to the cause. " "Join in and help! and maybe the old spirit of the AI lab will live again." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Good Hacking" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Richard M Stallman" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "The Happy Hacker" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnotes" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "I loved the AI Lab's anarchistic way of life and manner of operation, but " "that's not really being a whole hog anarchist. I didn't call for abolishing " "the state and its many useful activities, and the possibility of making " "society's decisions in a democratic way. See <a " "href=\"//www.stallman.org/articles/why-we-need-a-state.html\">Why we need a " "state</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "The AI lab was neutral between the two companies; I was content to be part " "of that neutrality." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "The AI lab PDP-10 broke in February 1982, and was never repaired." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "Symbolics issued its ultimatum on March 16, 1982, by coincidence my " "birthday. I thought of that as the day when Symbolics attacked the AI Lab " "and LMI, aiming to subjugate the former to destroy the latter." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "Ironically, outright conflict pulled me out of my despair, by showing me " "something positive to strive for. I was no longer lost with no direction to " "advance in. A struggle had fallen on me, out of the blue—an " "aggression whose defeat was worth exerting the utmost of my ability." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 1983, 2023, 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" " "href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons " "Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""