Linux

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Linux is a UNIX-like kernel written by Linus Torvalds in the early 1990s. Originally intended to a hobby project, version 0.1 was released on the comp.os.minix newsgroup on August 25, 1991. In 1992, The kernel was released under version 2 of the GPL, which requires anyone distributing a modified version of it to make the source code available, freely usable, and freely modifiable. Due to said licensing, the GNU project had adopted the kernel and titled it GNU/Linux with the penultimate goal of creating a fully free UNIX replacement. Version 1.0 of the kernel was ready in 1994, and the upstream is still being updated constantly as of 2021. The Linux kernel is the foundation for Android, the most popular mobile operating system in the world. Linux has gained extensive penetration into the server market, where it is particularly popular as the basis for web servers. These computers do much of the heavy lifting for services like Facebook and Google. Linux is also used extensively in scientific computing, and is the most dominant supercomputer kernel, with all of the top 500 supercomputers running different variants of Linux as of 2017.^[1]

Popularity[edit]

Linux is popular among computer enthusiasts, programmers, and privacy-conscious individuals, thanks to its open nature allowing for anyone to audit and modify their system how they see fit. Although many individuals and organizations regularly contribute to the development of the ecosystem (such as Valve's Proton compatibility layer for running Windows-native video games, and their release of the Steam Deck running an Arch Linux-based distribution named SteamOS), Linux still holds a very small market share of around 4%.^[2] This is partly due to the fact that Microsoft uses its monopoly power to threaten manufacturers with higher prices if they ship any PCs with Linux pre-installed.^{[citation needed]}
In a 2012 Q&A session, Linus Torvalds argued that most users do not wish to manually install their own operating system, instead sticking with whatever is pre-installed. Microsoft's push to be the default option shipped on desktop computers contributed heavily to its widespread adoption.^[3]
This has led to a Catch-22 problem: Microsoft's dominance in the desktop operating system market has resulted in the vast majority of software being made for Windows, with Linux support being an after-thought. This lack of support pushes many people away from using Linux and growing its user-base to a point where more software is made to support it, thus further preventing it from challenging Microsoft's monopoly. Some vendors such as System76 and TuxedoComputers sell notebooks and desktops with a focus on 'out of the box' Linux support to try to combat this anti-competitive trend.

While Linux does not hold a large desktop market share, it is considered a very popular choice for servers and mainframes due to its modular nature and stability. Current estimates suggest that approximately 41.8% of websites are run on a server using Linux, and that Ubuntu, Debian and CentOS are the most popular distributions for this use-case.^[4]

Linux is only the kernel for different userlands, and by itself does not contain a user interface (UI). This, along with other useful software, is bundled together with the kernel in a "Linux distribution", and their look and feel can be quite different depending on which UI they include. Due to the lack of online activation, the popularity of distributions is difficult to determine. Most sources agree that Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro, and Fedora tend to be the most popular desktop distributions.^[5]

Lawsuits[edit]

In 2003, the SCO Group, which licensed Unix systems on behalf of Novell, filed infringement lawsuits against IBM, Daimler-Chrysler, Red Hat, and Autozone for using Linux (Red Hat has its own distribution of Linux), which they asserted was derived from intellectual property they claimed to have created. They also piqued the interest of the Linux community at large by asserting a $699 fee for every installed copy of Linux, anywhere. Five years later the SCO Group filed for bankruptcy, impoverished by their own legal fees pursuing the litigation and defending against counter-claims.^[6] SCO's assertions were rendered moot by a judgment that the intellectual property was in fact held by Novell all along^[7] and SCO has breached the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) of UNIX. Novell, which has its own Linux distribution, openSUSE, does not share SCO's beliefs.^[8]

Novell in turn wants whatever remains of the $24 million Microsoft paid SCO to run the whole scam, which was nothing more than a campaign to create "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt" to discourage switching from Windows to Linux, while the Windows Vista rollout was delayed for years.

See also[edit]

• Hacker
• OS Wars
• Microsoft

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Linux - Official website