"Finally, here it is. Almost on time (being just two
years late is peanuts in the OS industry), and better than ever:
Linux kernel release 1.0
This release has no new major features compared to the pl15
kernels, but contains lots and lots of bugfixes: all the major ones
are gone, the smaller ones are hidden better. Hopefully there are
no major new ones."
Linux supplied the missing piece to make the GNU toolchain a
complete and usable computer operating system. The GNU project was founded by Richard
Stallman in 1983, with the aim of creating a complete UNIX-like
operating system made completely out of Free software. GNU had text
editors, a compiler and other programming tools, libraries,
filesystem utilities, libraries, and so forth. GNU had everything
but a kernel. Linux came along at the perfect moment to fill this
gap. GNU does have a kernel, HURD,
but it's not ready for prime-time. In fact it's a bit of running
gag because it has been under development for so long.
This happy meeting of GNU and Linux is why Richard Stallman
insists that the proper name is GNU/Linux, rather than plain old
Linux. Another popular debating point is "Linux is a kernel, not an
operating system!" What would FOSS be without arguments?
And thus it is because of these humble beginnings and happy
happenstances that today we enjoy Linux and Free and Open Source
Software. There are many, many good things that we have because of
FOSS. Take a moment to think about what the world would look like
without it:
A Balknanized Internet divided into expensive, competing,
walled fiefdoms
DRM and Trusted computing everywhere
Windows on everything, expensive proprietary UNIX in a dying
niche, and Apple as dead as the dodo
An Internet in even worse shape than it is now, with no
OpenSSL, no OpenSSH, no PGP, no FOSS file encryption tools, no
friendly, free iptables-based firewalls
No VoIP
No FOSS networking and diagnostic tools to prove to service
providers that yes, the problem is too theirs
Vendor backdoors and rampant spyware in everything, even worse
than now
No competition in the computing marketplace, and no downward
pricing pressure on anything
Bill Gates becomes the first trillionaire
Remember that thanks to FOSS, we also have FreeBSD, which was
powering high-demand, high-availability sites long before Linux was
out of short pants; OpenBSD, which has been a powerful,
uncompromising force for open-source hardware drivers, and NetBSD,
which supports even more hardware platforms than Linux. Would
OpenSolaris exist without FOSS? I doubt it.
Would we have Wikipedia, the Creative Commons, Project
Gutenberg? Would we have user groups, distributed development,
excitement and creativity? Nope. I think that instead we would have
1,000 year copyrights, patents on facial expressions, and
trademarks on common words like "the", "and", "or". We would all
have our Trusted Consumer Control Implants, and free speech would
be dead.
My favorite way of celebrating something, other than beer and
cake, is reading all about it. I can't share beer and cake, but I
can share reading suggestions. Enjoy!
