Linux / GNU
Linux and GNU. Linux is most often referred to as just Linux instead of Linux/GNU
because,... well because, ... I suppose it is just easier. I don't think that
anybody consciously dropped GNU, but I do agree with Richard Stallman that the
system which is the kernel and utilities should be referred to as Linux/GNU.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds and GNU is a foundation started by Richard
Stallman.
In the past year or so, Linux / GNU has become a phenomenon by challenging
just about everything that the conventional wisdom said about software and the
software business. Through a massively distributed project where features were
developed based on the needs and skill of users, Linux grew from an excercise
by a Finnish engineering student into an operating system that is now an alternative
to proprietary operating systems like Windows NT and commercial Unix operating
systems like Solaris and HP/UX.
That is what the conventional wisdom is saying. The truth is, of course, somewhat
different. Solaris, AIX and HP/UX still are the high end Unix offerings and
Linux is not that close to supplanting them in spite of what zealots might suggest.
The real story about Linux is however that it can scale quite well into the
low end of what was exclusively the domain of proprietary systems.
Linux is an example of what sort of product is developed when users get what
they demand. The users of Linux have been mostly technically oriented and so
the evolution of the system went toard functionality, stability, and openness.
Desktop users are beginning to get what they want through more development in
windowing systems, but that is still not something that will replace everybodies
desktop this year.
We've been using the Linux kernel since around version 0.9 and have been using
it in production environments since early in version 1.0
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