History From Linux
UNIX
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969 at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. It was first released in 1971 and was initially entirely written in assembly language, a common practice at the time. Later, in a key pioneering approach in 1973, Unix was re-written in the programming language C by Dennis Ritchie (with exceptions to the kernel and I/O). The availability of an operating system written in a high-level language allowed easier portability to different computer platforms. With a legal glitch forcing AT&T to license the operating system's source code,[clarification needed] Unix quickly grew and became widely adopted by academic institutions and businesses.
GNU
BSD
Although not released until 1992 due to legal complications, development of 386BSD, from which NetBSD and FreeBSD descended, predated that of Linux. Linus Torvalds has said that if 386BSD had been available at the time, he probably would not have created Linux.[18]MINIX is an inexpensive minimal Unix-like operating system, designed for education in computer science, written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Starting with version 3, MINIX was free and redesigned for �serious� use.
In 1991 while attending the University of Helsinki, Torvalds, curious about the operating systems [19] and frustrated by the licensing of MINIX limiting it to educational use only (which prevented any commercial use), began to work on his own operating system which eventually became the Linux kernel.
Torvalds began the development of the Linux kernel on MINIX, and applications written for MINIX were also used on Linux. Later Linux matured and it became possible for Linux to be developed under itself.[20] Also GNU applications replaced all MINIX ones, because with code from the GNU system freely available, it was advantageous if this could be used with the fledgling operating system. Code licensed under the GNU GPL can be used in other projects, so long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. In order to make the Linux available for commercial use, Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license (which prohibited commercial redistribution) to the GNU GPL.[21] Developers worked to integrate GNU components with Linux to make a fully functional and free operating system.[16]
Commercial and popular uptake
Main article: Linux adoption
Today, Linux distributions are used in every domain, from embedded systems to supercomputers,[22][23] and have secured a place in server installations often using the popular LAMP application stack.[24] Use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been growing.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31] They have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. The federal government of Brazil is well known for its support for Linux.[32][33] News of the Russian military creating their own Linux distribution has also surfaced, and has come to fruition as the G.H.ost Project.[34] The Indian state of Kerala has gone to the extent of mandating that all state high schools run Linux on their computers.[35][36] China uses Linux exclusively as the operating system for its Loongson processor family to achieve technology independence.[37] In Spain some regions have developed their own Linux distributions, which are widely used in education and official institutions, like gnuLinEx in Extremadura and Guadalinex in Andalusia. Portugal is also using its own Linux distribution Caixa M�gica, used in the Magalh�es netbook[38] and the e-escola government program.[39] France and Germany have also taken steps towards the adoption of Linux.[40]Linux distributions have also become popular in the netbook market, with many devices such as the ASUS Eee PC and Acer Aspire One shipping with customized Linux distributions installed.[41]
Current development
Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel. Stallman heads the Free Software Foundation, which in turn supports the GNU components. Finally, individuals and corporations develop third-party non-GNU components. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and user applications and libraries. Linux vendors and communities combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components, with additional package management software in the form of Linux distributions.More About Linux Can See In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
