Summary

The history of GNU/Linux is an interesting one because at three levels, its a story of frustration. Thompson and Ritchie designed the original UNIX as a way to replace the existing Multics operating system. Richard Stallman created the GNU and FSF as a way to create a free operating system that anyone could use, free of proprietary licenses. Linus Torvalds created Linux out of frustration with the Minix [Minix04] operating system that was used primarily as an educational tool at the time. Whatever their motivations, they and countless others around the world succeeded in ways that no one at the time would have ever believed. GNU/Linux today competes with commercial operating systems and offers a real and useful alternative. Even in the embedded systems domain, Linux has begun to dominate and operates in the smallest devices.