Today we are celebrating the 31st birthday of Linux, the leading operating system on servers including the infrastrucrture we use for our team and our Subscribers. The numbers say it all: over 96.4% of the top 1 million web servers’, mainframe computers and supercomputers aren using Linux today.
It all started more than three decades ago with an email sent to a mailing list from a student at University of Helsinki asking the opinion of the participants in the list about a ‘small’ (hobby) project he was working on at the time.
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Hello everybody out there using minix -
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).
I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-)
Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes - it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.
His name: Linus Torwards and the development and proven sucess of his project is now history. The email was sent in August 25th followed by some work from Linus focused in creating the distributed version control system Git.
Today, the FLOSS licensed kernel is the foundation of popular distributions including Debian, Fedora Linux, and Ubuntu, which is heavily used from our tech team. There is more, it also runs on embedded systems, such as routers, automation controls, smart home devices, IP Cameras, video game consoles, televisions, automobiles (Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Toyota all rely on Linux), Spacecraft and space robots.
A journey that could never be possible if the Linux Kernel would not be licensed under a GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).
Happy birthday to Linux (as a project) and to each and every one working on developing it, improving it and promoting it.
