Small steps, large impact: the Linux story

25th august 1991, a nobody named Linus Trovaldis did something bold, without any clue about what he was setting in motion.

Hello everybody out there using minix –
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing
since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on
things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
(same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
among other things).
I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and
I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them
Linus (torva…@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes – it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.

yes, it says what you think it does

Here is something we know today about human beings; we can never predict the future with reasonable degree of surety. Even in situations where the outcome seems to be “either this, or that”, we cannot deduce how things will turn out. This does not stop us from trying, though, or from re interpreting the past to make sense of the present/future.

The story of Linux is a story of how a simple action can lead to worldwide change. Linux is not just about software now, it gave birth to philosophies, life styles and much more.

Linux.com as well as the Linux foundation have some great articles, infographics and videos up celebrating the 20th anniversary of Linux.

The lokpal bill situation seems to have drowned out the Indian Linux lover voices, and that is a sad thing.

I'll be celebrating 20 years of Linux with The Linux Foundation!

Image by  nitot