Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition
by Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, Stephen Figgins
Chapter 1. Introduction
In just a few years, Linux has grown from a student/hacker playground to an upstart challenger in the server market to a well-respected system taking its rightful place in educational and corporate networks. A freely redistributable clone of the Unix operating system, Linux is turning up everywhere. People use it for web servers, file servers, and workstations instead of--or alongside—systems from traditional Unix vendors as well as Windows NT. In addition to its role in large networks (because it’s a friendly fellow that fits in very nicely with other operating systems), Linux is popular among Windows users who just want to try something that gives them more speed, more power, and more control.
The historical impact of Linux goes even beyond its own penetration into the markets of proprietary operating systems. Its success has inspired countless other free software or open source (http://opensource.org)projects, including Samba, GNOME, and a mind-boggling collection of innovative projects that you can browse at numerous sites like SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net).As both a platform for other developers and a development model, Linux gave a tremendous boost to the Free Software Foundation’s GNU project, which in turn had furnished key software that made the development of Linux possible. In short, Linux is a central participant in the most exciting and productive free software movement ever seen.
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