A Brief History of Linux
Unix is one of the most popular operating systems worldwide because of its large support base and distribution. It was originally developed as a multitasking system for minicomputers and mainframes in the mid-1970s. It has since grown to become one of the most widely used operating systems anywhere, despite its sometimes confusing interface and lack of central standardization. There is no single implementation of Unix. Originally developed by Bell Labs, Unix eventually forked into several versions, including a popular distribution from the University of California at Berkeley, called BSD. Over the years, many vendors have developed their own implementations of Unix, either from scratch or starting with another version. Linux was built from the ground up, although earlier versions included some code from BSD as well.
While Unix underwent a dip in market strength during the early 1990s, under the onslaught of the new Windows NT system, it came back strong and has become the mainstay of large computers.
Unix has quite a cult following in the operating systems community. Many hackers feel that Unix is the Right Thing — the One True Operating System. Hence, the development of Linux by an expanding group of Unix hackers who want to get their hands dirty with their own system. Moreover, Linux is not a “product” that ties you to a particular vendor or software developer. Because Linux is free, and all the source code is available (more on that later), anyone can ...
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