Fallen Tech Blog

I would like to describe exactly what happened to me over the last 6 years or so, that I affectionately call "The GPL Effect".

Six years ago, I found out about GNU/Linux. I had been using other operating systems such as Novell Netware, Windows, Commodore 64 OS and DOS for years, and had dabbled in VMS and UNIX. While I'd been using computers for many years already, I hadn't purchased much software. I was generally given software from friends and didn't think much about the fact that I was stealing.

I read about GNU/Linux in a magazine one day and was introduced to the concept of the GPL - GNU (http://www.gnu.org/) General Public License. I read that GNU/Linux is "free" and it fascinated me, though I only was thinking of it from a cost point of view. I liked the fact that I could get a distribution, a CD (or now - DVD or set of CDs) that not only contained an Operating System that was greatly superior than most others I'd used, but also a complete set of applications that ran within that operating system, all for absolutely nothing ... LEGALLY.

At this point, I had NO idea how much my life would be changed, because of this.

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