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+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
+  "/usr/share/xml/docbook/xml-dtd-4.5/docbookx.dtd">
+
+<chapter>
+<title>Introduction to Slackware</title>
+
+<section>
+<title>Why Use Slackware?</title>
+
+<para>
+Slackware has a long tradition of excellence.  Started in 1992 and
+first released in 1993, Slackware is the oldest surviving commercial
+Linux distribution.  Slackware's focus on making a clean, simple Linux
+distribution that is as UNIX-like as possible makes it a natural choice
+for those people who really want to learn about Linux and other
+UNIX-like operating systems.  Slackware's simplicity makes it ideal for
+those users who want to create their own custom systems.  And of course,
+Slackware is great in its own right as a desktop, workstation, or server.
+</para>
+
+</section>
+
+<section>
+<title>Differences with other Linux Distributions</title>
+
+<para>
+There are a great number of differences between Slackware and other
+main-stream distributions such as Red Hat, Debian, and Ubuntu.  Perhaps
+the greatest difference is the lack of "hand-holding" that Slackware
+will do for the administrator.  Many of these other distributions ship
+with graphical configuration tools for all manner of services.  In many
+cases these configuration tools are the preferred method of setting up
+applications on these systems and will over-write any changes you make
+to the config files via other means.  These tools often make it easy
+(or at least possible) for a rookie with no in-depth understanding of
+his system to setup basic services; however, they also make it
+difficult to do anything too out of the ordinary.  In contrast,
+Slackware expects you, the system administrator, to do these tasks on
+your own.  Slackware provides no general purpose setup tools beyond
+those included with the source code published by up-stream developers.
+This means there is often a somewhat steeper learning curve associated
+with Slackware, even for those users familiar with other Linux
+distributions, but also makes it much easier to do whatever you want
+with your operating system.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+Also, you may hear users of other distributions say that Slackware has
+no package management system.  This is completely and obviously false.
+Slackware has always had package management (see Chapter 16 for more
+information).  What it does not have is automatic dependency
+resolution.  Rather, Slackware's package tools trade dependency
+management for simplicity, ease-of-use, and reliability.
+</para>
+
+</section>
+
+<section>
+<title>Licensing</title>
+
+<para>
+Each piece of Slackware (indeed of all Linux distributions) is
+developed by different people or teams of people, and each group has
+their own ideas about what it means to be "free".  Because of this
+there are literally dozens and dozens of different licenses granting
+you different permissions regarding their use or distribution.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+Perhaps the most popular license in use within the Free Software
+community is the GNU General Public License.  
+The GPL was created by the Free Software
+Foundation which actively works to create and distribute software that
+contains the basic freedoms they fill are basic rights.  Indeed, this
+is the very group that coined the term "Free Software".  The GPL
+imposes no restrictions on the use of software.  In fact, you don't
+even have to accept the terms of the license in order to use the
+software, but you are not allowed to distribute the software or your
+changes to it without abiding by the terms of the license agreement.  A
+great many software projects shipped with Slackware from the Linux
+kernel itself to the Samba project are released under the terms of the
+GPL.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+Another very common license is the BSD license, which is arguably "more
+free" than the GPL, but imposes no restrictions on derivative works.
+The BSD license simply requires that the copyright remain intact, along
+with a simple disclaimer.  Many of the utilities specific to Slackware
+are licensed with a BSD-style license.
+</para>
+
+</section>
+
+</chapter>