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ICYMI: GNU/Linux Did Not Start in Finland

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 15, 2026,
updated May 15, 2026

GNU is not UNIX, GNU is not Linux, and GNU does not rely on Linux.

GCC compiling Hello World on Windows

Finland seems to be fast adopting GNU/Linux, but let's not kid ourselves or fool our kids. The platform did not start in 1991, did not start in Helsinki, and isn't represented by the Linux Foundation (despite its name), it is a mislabelled front group for many of the companies that hurt and compete against GNU/Linux.

Why does this matter? We'll keep reminding that it matters a lot because if people don't know when or where it started, they'll get all confused (or intentionally misinformed) about the objective, the purpose, the philosophy.

Free systems for computing go back to the age of academia and militaries in control of key machines, as well as networking (the Internet and precursors). That didn't start in 1975 when companies like Microsoft and Apple were around. IBM et al were the big players, as well as telecoms (when physical rather than wireless communication was critical). UNIX started at a telecom giant and many years later GNU was modeled after it, as there was a push to keep source code from being shared (unlike before) and copyrights on code were becoming the norm in more and more parts of the world.

Finland did have a major contribution. Years after a Finn created IRC (and ran it there in his university) another Finnish student made a kernel using GNU - the compiler collection, the various liberated tools, then the licence as well (GPL).

The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC; formerly GNU C Compiler) is still around and GNU is deployed more widely than Linux, the kernel.

If we're honest/true to ourselves, we need to recognise history for what it is, not what some corporations (like GAFAM) want it to be.

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