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Linux is the brainchild of Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman is his main supporter. On one side, Torvald initiated and still maintains the largest open source community in the world. In 1991, he launched a source code accross the Internet to be seen and modified by anyone. On the other side, Stallman started the free software foundation known as the GNU back in 1984. He preceded Linux and Torvald because he has been working on a free UNIX platform many years before Torvald. Eventually, they joined to work with an increasing number of programmers accross the Internet. Linux opened its way into the corporate world when the software was used as a server and included networking capabilities.
Nowadays, Linux is gaining ground in the desktop. Some third party projects have ported graphical user interfaces, office suites, graphic design and CAD software, database and Internet support. Most of the software available is free to download. The rest is shareware and is supported by commercial companies. Terms like free software and open source are blessed by the free software foundation or the GNU licence. Developers and vendors alike can sell commercial software for Linux under another license.
Linux can run in a large number of hardware. From mainframes to Mac and from Commodore to Amiga. Most video and ethernet cards are supported. It will run from 386 processors up to modern Pentiums. Nonetheless, Linux still lacks support for print drivers, pcmcia or Token Ring Cards.
Also, Linux possess a complete set of programming tools.They include C/C++, Pascal, Perl, Tcl/TK, GTK+, Bison, Flex, Java among others. Some commercial vendors release licenses on a certain number of toolkits for private development.
In terms of license, the Free software foundation state that any subject
is able to sell, rent, copy or give away Linux. However, the code must
state its changes when modified and distributed. All scripting must contain
the name of the initial person and quote the changes made on the original
source.
To know more about the Linux license click here
``...As I mentioned a month ago, I'm working on a free version of a Minix-look-alike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage where it's even usable, depending on what you want), and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is just version 0.02...but I've successfully run bash, gcc, gnu-makee,gnu-sed, compress, etc. under it.'' Linus Torvalds, 1991
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