It took many years of work, by hundreds of programmers, to develop this operating system. All together have helped to liberate the potential of the computer network for all humanity. Today, the combination of GNU and Linux is used by millions of people around the world, and its popularity is growing. But our freedom is not permanently assured. The world does not stand still, and we cannot count on having freedom five years from now, just because we have it today.
Free software faces difficult challenges and dangers.
It will take determined efforts to preserve our freedom, just as it took to obtain freedom in the first place. Copyright 1999 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire article is permitted provided this notice is preserved.