The Fedora Project is a project sponsored by Red Hat primarily to co-ordinate the development of the Linux-based Fedora operating system, operating with the vision that the project "creates a world where free culture is welcoming and widespread, collaboration is commonplace, and people control their content and devices". The Fedora Project was founded on 22 September 2003 when Red Hat decided to split Red Hat Linux into Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and a community-based operating system, Fedora.
A program is free software if the program's users have the 4 essential freedoms:
The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).\vspace{0.2cm}
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.\vspace{0.2cm}
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour (freedom 2).\vspace{0.2cm}
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
\noindent {\large A program is free software if the program's users have the 4 essential freedoms}:
\begin{itemize}
\item \vspace{0.2cm}
\noindent \textbf{The freedom to run} the program as you wish, for any purpose \textit{(freedom 0)}. \vspace{0.2cm}
\item \noindent \textbf{The freedom to study} how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish \textit{(freedom 1)}. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.\vspace{0.2cm}
\item \noindent \textbf{The freedom to redistribute} copies so you can help your neighbour \textit{(freedom 2)}.\vspace{0.2cm}
\item \noindent \textbf{The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions} to others \textit{(freedom 3)}. \tiny{By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.\underline{\textsc{ Access to the source code is a precondition for this.}}}
GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!", chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code.
Richard Stallman, the founder of the project, views GNU as a "technical means to a social end". Stallman has written about "the social aspects of software and how Free Software can create community and social justice." in his "Free Society" book.