In 1991 a 21-year-old Finnish computer science grad student named Linus
Torvalds created the core of Linux, an operating system that runs on
ordinary PCs. Operating systems are the basic software that organizes a
computer and tells it how to do what it does -- other examples would be the
Macintosh OS and Windows 98. But Linux is different from Windows and
Macintosh in two crucially important ways: It's free. And it doesn't crash.
Nineteen ninety-eight was the year Linux came into its own. Beloved of
techies worldwide,
passed by hand from geek to geek, Linux has gained an international cult
following of around 7 million. Torvalds was on the cover of Forbes
magazine; Linux software publishers such as Red Hat and Caldera are doing
booming business; and Los Alamos researchers created a Linux-based
supercomputer. The importance of the Linux movement's technical
innovations is matched by that of its ideological commitment to making
software free and open to everyone, and these two aspects are inextricably
linked: Because Linux costs nothing and can be read by anyone, hackers
everywhere can work together to make Linux better. It won't make them rich,
but it might make them happy.
In 1991 a 21-year-old Finnish computer science grad student named Linus
Torvalds created the core of Linux, an operating system that runs on
ordinary PCs. Operating systems are the basic software that organizes a
computer and tells it how to do what it does -- other examples would be the
Macintosh OS and Windows 98. But Linux is different from Windows and
Macintosh in two crucially important ways: It's free. And it doesn't crash.