Linux

UNIX was an operating system written in C that could adapt to different hardware. It was a way to work around the headache of computers that couldn’t communicate between manufacturers, such as those from IBM and Burroughs, for example. Only the kernel required specific adjustments for each architecture. Clever, but UNIX licenses cost a fortune: resellers inflated prices up to ten times the initial rate.

Andrew Tanenbaum, an American professor working in the Netherlands, then took a different approach. He wanted to show his students how an operating system actually worked. His MINIX, designed for Intel 8086 processors that were flooding the market, didn’t match the performance of commercial systems. Its strength lay elsewhere: Tanenbaum published the 12,000 lines of code in his book “Operating Systems: Design and Implementation”. This practice was already seen for BASIC programs on personal computers, like games, but not for entire operating systems. Curious programmers could finally look under the hood.

Linus Torvalds, a second-year computer science student in Helsinki, was among those passionate readers. This self-taught Finn was simultaneously discovering Richard Stallman’s ideas. Stallman had started his career at MIT’s AI lab, where he created the Emacs editor. In the early 1980s, he observed with bitterness how software companies poached the best programmers by imposing draconian confidentiality clauses. In his view, software should remain free, copyable, and modifiable by all.

The GNU system project (a recursive acronym for “GNU is Not UNIX”) was born in 1983. Stallman began with the GCC compiler in 1984, a technical masterpiece that surpassed the achievements of entire teams of commercial developers. But the system kernel was still missing.

Torvalds, inspired by MINIX, took on the task, and his first Linux version (0.01) appeared in September 1991, followed by 0.02 in October. The reception was immediate: programmers from around the world downloaded the code, tried it, improved it, and sent their contributions back to Torvalds. An unprecedented collaborative dynamic was set in motion.

Tanenbaum was not kind to this newcomer. In 1991, he harshly criticized Linux’s monolithic kernel architecture, calling it a major design flaw. “Linux is obsolete,” he asserted. Torvalds took the criticism in stride and continued his work. History would prove him right.

The association with GNU programs transformed Linux into a complete system. The GPL license ensured that the source code would remain accessible, creating a virtuous circle: more contributors, more improvements, more users. Students and programmers flocked to this open playground.

Red Hat and Debian launched the first commercial distributions, assembling precompiled software to simplify installation. The KDE and GNOME graphical interfaces made the system accessible to non-experts. Linux was leaving the labs to conquer desktops.

Tux the penguin, the project’s mascot, tells a delightful story. During a vacation in the southern hemisphere, Torvalds encountered a penguin that bit his hand. This amusing incident later inspired the choice of symbol. Humor was never far away in this adventure.

Linux developed its own philosophy. Each tool accomplishes a single task but does it perfectly. The interface treats files and input-output devices uniformly. Users combine these simple tools to create sophisticated functionality, customizing their environment to their liking.

The robustness is impressive: a failing program doesn’t bring down the entire system. Each process’s memory remains compartmentalized, preventing unauthorized interference. The development environment natively integrates a full suite of programming tools.

Linux represents the transformation of a student project into a global phenomenon. It runs web servers, supercomputers, and our Android mobile devices. An international community of developers proves it can create and maintain a sophisticated operating system, challenging established proprietary models. Linus’s small kernel has grown to challenge industry giants, championing collaborative development and open source code.