Richard Stallman—Released GNU Emacs as free software, one of the first major GNU programs
In 1984, Richard Stallman began work on GNU Emacs, releasing it in 1985 as one of the first major programs of the GNU Project. GNU Emacs became one of the most widely used text editors among programmers and established the pattern for copyleft licensing. It remains actively maintained and used today, demonstrating the longevity and success of free software.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.885 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Confirms product_decision Mar 20, 1985 verified
Richard Stallman released GNU Emacs as free software
Stallman released GNU Emacs in 1985 as one of the first major programs of the GNU Project, establishing the pattern for copyleft licensing.