from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
Live Free Or Die!
imp.
1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's
automobile license plates.
2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic days when Unix
aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground tilting
against the windmills of industry. The "free" referred specifically to
freedom from the {fascist} design philosophies and crufty misfeatures
common on competing operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the
early Unix developers, used to give out fake license plates bearing
this motto under a large Unix, all in New Hampshire colors of green
and white. These are now valued collector's items. In 1994 {DEC} put
an inferior imitation of these in circulation with a red corporate
logo added. Compaq (half of which was once DEC) continued the
practice.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Live Free Or Die!
1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that
state's automobile licence plates.
2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic days when
Unix aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered
underground tilting against the windmills of industry. The
"free" referred specifically to freedom from the {fascist}
design philosophies and {crufty} misfeatures common on
commercial operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the
early Unix developers, used to give out fake licence plates
bearing this motto under a large Unix, all in New Hampshire
colours of green and white. These are now valued collector's
items.