Linux powers huge portions of the Internet’s infrastructure, corporate data centers, websites, stock exchanges, the world’s most widely used smartphone operating system, and almost all of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Minix was one alternative available at the time but this was small scale, designed primarily for professors to teach computer science. These systems, closed and inflexible by nature, meant an organisation would struggle when trying to answer a specific requirement.
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See also: 40 years on from the birth of Apple, how well have its security practises aged?
In the near future, Linux will be everywhere that companies tend to implement internet applications or where data is stored.
So to be honest, today is a bit like celebrating your birthday on the day that your parents had a broken condom (because they never wanted you, you know, they’ve always hated you), but it does act as a curtain-raiser to our celebrations of INQ readers’ favourite operating system.
The GPLv2, which the Linux kernel is specifically licensed under, requires developers to publicly share any modifications that they have made to the kernel, which has been vital in avoiding numerous pitfalls that competing Operating Systems have fallen into. If so, you’re using Linux on a daily basis. It’s used in airplanes, on your Wi-Fi router, on smartwatches, smart TVs, and any other smart device you have in your home.
In fact, Linux can be found across all aspects of our day-to-day use of technology. Maintainers handle each subsystem and deal with a huge amount of code.
Each patch has to be clean and nicely written – Linus and his maintainers will not accept a contribution unless it adheres to these criteria.
This approach – and the purity of system it drives – is arguably the biggest asset of Linux.
These standards and key principles of being “open” and “free” from a source code point of view were the values that attracted many developers in the first place. Today, they offer protection for companies’ and users’ investment in Linux – and will continue to do so.
So happy 25 anniversary, Linux!
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“Above all, 25 years of kernel history show that sustained, cooperative effort can bring about common resources that no group would have been able to develop on its own”, the report concluded.
