1.2. What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system whose kernel source codes are freely available for public review and even modification under the GNU general public license. The base of the operating system's kernel was created by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki during the period from 1991 (when version 0.2 was released) to 1994 (when version 1.0 was released). The current version is 2.6, released in December 2003, and the development continues. Torvalds wrote a kernel functionally similar to UNIX systems and made it available for public review, asking people to help him improve and expand the capabilities of the new operating system. Quite a few people answered the call, and the project got rolling.

Hackers from different countries joined the project on a voluntary basis and started creating the most controversial operating system. Controversies around Linux arise almost daily, because the operating system has become widespread and customers can have it for free. Some software developers consider this project to have no future, and some (e.g., Microsoft) periodically treat it as their worst enemy.

The first official version of the operating system's kernel, version 1.0, was released in 1994, 3 years after Linux was first announced. Such a rapid development phase was made possible by the large number of professionals who joined in developing Torvalds's interesting idea.

Linux is a multiuser, multitask operating system, which means that several users can execute several tasks at the computer at the same time.

Why has this operating system become so popular, unlike other open -source projects, some of which were implemented even better than Linux? I attribute this popularity to Linux's being created by hackers and for hackers. It is a nice feeling to work with an operating system that you have taken part in creating. Any user can change the source code of the system in any way without fear of being persecuted under the law.

The initial growing popularity of Linux among system administrators was due to the operating system supporting the main UNIX standards, such as Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), System V, and BSD. With all this, the system was designed for the inexpensive (in comparison with expensive servers like Sun Microsystems or IBM) x86 platform and possessed all the necessary capabilities. Consequently, many individuals and organizations were able to optimize their expenses on information technology infrastructure by migrating some server tasks to the free Linux platform.

One of the first tasks entrusted to Linux was organization of Web servers, and it handled this task superbly. It is difficult to tell the percentage of Web servers being run under Linux currently, but the majority of statistical analyses show that the LinuxApache combination holds the larger share.

The operating system in its present state allows practically any task to be run under it. There have been numerous free software packages for handling various tasks written for Linux. Computers running Linux are used in diverse areas, including creating special effects for movies.

Another important factor in the operating system's popularity is that it is democratic . You are free to use all of its capabilities and are not forced to use a particular product from a particular developer. Distributives of the operating system usually contain several software packages serving the same purpose; thus, you can have several browsers, several office programs, and so on, in one distribution package. In Windows, this is impossible . I doubt that we will ever see, for example, Microsoft offering Mozilla and Opera in addition to its Internet Explorer in this system. Indeed, why would Bill Gates offer any competitors to his commercial product? In Linux, competition amounts to striving to offer the best product, leaving it up to the user to make the choice.