Newton Project

Science and technology play an important role in the evolution of human civilization. Every major

scientific discovery and its application have greatly improved human life. The invention and largescale application of the steam engine marked the beginning of the first industrial revolution and

ushered in an era in which machines replaced manual labor. With the invention and application of

electric power and internal combustion engines, the second industrial technology revolution began

and the continuing electrical era started. As computers and the Internet were invented, the third

technological revolution began, and human beings entered the information era and created a “Bit

World” that never existed before. Now that the “Bit World” has become a new land for mankind

with profound influence on human civilization.

Looking back at the history of information technology, there is a less-known development path with

profound influence: The Free Software Movement initiated by Richard M. Stallman in 1983. In

the early days of the computer industry, software was sent to users in the form of source code so

that users can make full use of their hardware in a reasonable way. With the application of copyright

law in the software field, software was authorized to users in binary form, representing the start of

the era of proprietary software. In this context, Richard M. Stallman launched the GNU project in

1983 to develop a free and complete operating system, ushering in the free software movement.

By the beginning of the 21st century, great progress has been made in the free software campaign,

including abundant software technologies, complete free software licenses, global community and

so on. The emergence of free and open source hardware such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi marks

the development of free and open source intellectual property rights movement from software to

hardware domain.