Free software community celebrates 43 years of GNU today

The free software community is celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the GNU¹ (Gnu’s Not Unix) operating system today. The project was initially announced² on September 27 1983 by Richard Stallman³:

Subject: new Unix implementation
Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 12:35:59 EST
Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
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Free Unix! 

Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete
Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and
give it away free to everyone who can use it.

[..]

So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, 
I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software
so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free.

[..]

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US Snail:
Richard Stallman
166 Prospect St
Cambridge, MA 02139

Here are some of the early community reactions⁴:

The GNU Project and GPL have paved the way for extraordinary software

Linux was only able to take off as it did because the GNU userspace already existed for it to use.

I installed and began using GNU Emacs today (no joke)

A significant milestone in the history of open source and free software.

The recursive acronym is still the best branding flex in software history.

It is worth mentioning that the GNU Project has also built the global free software movement⁵.

This is an ongoing story and the report will be updated when new information is available.