LINUX: THE LITTLE OS THAT COULD

Linus Torvalds was a student at the University of Helsinki in 1991 when he decided to create a new & different “UNIX clone.” Linus decided the new OS would be named “Linus,” a combination of his name and “UNIX”. Torvalds has two goals. First, he wanted to create a powerful, feature-rich OS that provided the same functioning of UNIX. His OS would on almost any computer, regardless of its architecture or the type of applications it hosted. Second, the OS would be completely open; anyone could contribute to its development and adapt or change its code, as long as they made their innovations public and did not take credit for anyone else’s work. As part of its openness, Linux would be available for free to anyone who wanted it. For computer users in the home and in most average business settings, Linux is not an issue. With its cryptic command-driven interface, Linux is not likely to become the OS of the masses, even though the developers have created a Windows-like GUI for it.