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) has continued the practice.
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