Linux is a free clone of Unix operating system developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. As a starting point for realizing their ideas Linus Torvalds decided to use Minix is a very popular version of Unix at the turn of the decade. Perhaps it was one of the few options for Unix, which was very good for a desktop Intel architecture and very not bad feeling of "affordable" computer student at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

However, having worked with Minix, Linus faced with a number of problems which had led him to think about developing its own system similar Minix, but without its shortcomings. However, in early Linus would only improve Minix "by itself" but finally realized that it was not feasible, and has no particular meaning because of licensing restrictions.

About Minix knew only historians IT, but Linux heard will have all the PC users. Certainly, the development of the Linux operating system is still ongoing and it is not certain that the job is done. Nevertheless, over the past 15 years, during which developed Linux, we have a very workable system, which feels perfectly comfortable in different computer architectures: from classical and the i386 architecture is not to Mac. In fact, the internal structure of the Linux kernel so that it could be "recovered" (compiled) by almost any architecture: this is a very significant advantage of Linux compared with, for example, Windows © (any version) of Microsoft ©.

One of the most significant advantages of Linux is that the development and distribution of the operating system is based on the General Public License (General Public License, GPL for short), which is the manipulation of the system transparent and accessible to end users, both technically and from a legal standpoint. On the technical side, in the box, in most cases, includes the kernel sources system, as well as key application that allows the user to see itself as a system.

Of course, there is such a possibility is the user of certain skills and / or availability of user features such as curiosity. However, it was certainly not true that the overwhelming number of users is "to roll" because it is more important for them to the cost of the product, the value of product ownership and use of the comparative simplicity. All of these components are present in a Linux environment in a relatively balanced position.