Where Did Linux Come From?

Sun Solaris machines cost from $3,000 to more than one million dollars. That is a lot more expensive than your standard Windows PC or even a high-end Windows server. Of course, Sun Microsystems would probably like to point out that their higher-end Unix servers are in a completely different class than a Windows server running on a standard PC. They are able to handle much more work than any Windows/PC server. These Unix servers are designed for very intensive projects, thus their expense.

This cost, combined with the perceived complexity of Unix, prevented it from becoming a player in the desktop operating system market. Unix was primarily an operating system for high-end servers. The advent of the open source movement would eventually change this. Open source, briefly described earlier, was first brought to the public forefront by Richard Stallman, who in 1985 published his famous “GNU Manifesto,” a document outlining the parameters for open source licensing. Stallman had begun working on his own operating system in 1983. He called this system GNU (GNU is Not Unix). His goal was to create an open source version of Unix. Stallman’s Free Software Foundation later created the GNU General Public License that today allows Linux and other software to remain completely free. This open source movement was the start of a really big idea. An idea others ran with.

In 1987, Andrew S. Tanenbaum created Minix, an operating system quite similar to Unix. Minix was a fairly stable and functional system and a reasonably good Unix clone. Although Minix failed to gain the popularity of some other Unix variants, it was an inspiration for the creator of Linux.

The story of the Linux operating system starts with a young computer science graduate student named Linus Torvalds. Torvalds was introduced to Minix and, while still in graduate school, decided to create his own open source Unix clone. Torvalds found many things he liked about the Minix operating system, but he believed that he could make a better Unix variant. He chose the name Linux, as a combination of his first name and the end of the word Unix. He began by posting the operating system code on an Internet discussion board, allowing anyone to use it, play with it, or modify it. Finally, he released Linux 0.01 on the Internet under a GNU public license. Torvalds not only released the operating system for free, he released the source code and even invited other programmers to lend a hand in making the system more workable .

Over the years, Linux’s popularity has grown. It has moved from a hobby operating system for computer enthusiasts to a full-fledged business operating system. Vendors like Red Hat, SuSE, and Debian have released popular distributions of Linux that bundle the operating system with useful programs and a graphical interface. You can find out more about the history of Linux at any of these Web sites:

• http://ragib.hypermart.net/linux/

• www.li.org/linuxhistory.php

• http://linuxrefresher.com/additional/history.htm

You may be wondering how these vendors make money. If the operating system can be downloaded for free from the Internet, it would seem that any Linux company would have a very narrow profit margin. The first way they make money is by selling their operating systems in neatly packaged boxes with manuals and easy-to-install CDs. If you download a free version of Linux from the Internet, you do not get any manuals or CDs, installation can be quite tricky, and the download time will severely tax even a high-speed cable connection. These vendors also make money by selling support for Linux. If you purchase Red Hat Linux, you also can call their support line for help on a fee-per-call basis.