Free Pascal Project Start

Florian Müller began the Free Pascal project, originally as a 32-bit compiler for DOS, inspired by Turbo Pascal 7. This independent project later became the bedrock upon which Lazarus would be built.

Significance

Free Pascal provided the robust, open-source Object Pascal compiler that was essential for Lazarus to exist. Without Free Pascal, Lazarus's vision of a free Delphi clone would have been impossible.