GNU software on windows

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The GNU project is, IMHO, one of the most important movements in the field of IT.

In short, it's a project started in 1984 to develop free software tools. The word "free" here refers to freedom, not price. Free to use, free to modify, free to distribute to others. Check the next page for more on what free software is all about...

For context, I maintain several legacy Foxpro 2.x apps (aaaaarrrrggggggg!!!!), MS SQL extracts with reporting through Crystal Reports, some asp interfaces to the above, and a handful of low-end network admin. tasks. The network stuff is mainly secure ftp transfers to and from user desktops and the joys of getting a fifteen year old Dos app running on 32bit windows boxes... All of this is on a windows active directory domain.

As a Linux guy in a windows work environment, I've had moderate success introducing Free software to those around me. However, I'm constantly amazed by the general lack of exposure most windows folks have to free software.

NOTE:
While I've titled this section win32GNU, which implies a GPL license, I include software with other Free software licenses. Check out the Free Software Foundation's page on license types.



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