Linux Program example essay topic

Linus Torvold is a man of great interest, whom is often referred to as a "regular geek". Torvold belongs to a Swedish-speaking minority of the bilingual Nordic country, but was born in Finland. He has won an honorary doctorate for being the creator of Linux. This doctorate was awarded to him at the young age of 29.

This open source operating system was created in his Helskini apartment, in 1992. Torvold created this unique program while attending the University of Helsinki in Finland. His goal was to create a free operating system that could be manipulated by any user, and could be changed to fit the needs of the user. Torvold now works for Transmeta Corporation in Silicon Valley. There is not much information to be gain about Torvold's childhood for the exception of this interest in the computer at a young age.

It was found that this interest lead to his "geeky" qualities of engaging time-consuming hours at the computer. In 1992, Linux was developed by Linus Torvold. This kernel was released as an open source operating system. The value and quality of this system did not attract notice of the techie community until 1995. However, the rest of the population did not take notice until 1999. Linux was first started by Torvold, but was built by many people.

The fact that this is an open source system allows for people all over the world to add to the program and change it. If a bug can be found, it can be changed and the manufacturer can be then notified. Linux has become the popular free version of Unix created by the work of Linus Torvold's Unix kernel and Richard Stallman's GNU. The most popular type of Linux is the Red Hat Linux. Linux and Unix tie into one another in their development and history.

Unix was developed in 1969 by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and seven others at the Bell Laboratories. The original name of Unix was "Unix", Uniplexed Information and Computing System. This was first written in the assembly language. However, later in 1973, the language of Unix was changed to the C programming language. The inner core of Unix is referred to as the kernel. In the mid 1970's Unix was distributed out of AT&T and released into the world.

In the 1980's, several other versions of Unix were then released. There are many advantages as well as disadvantages to the Linux operating system. The most popular advantage of Linux is the fact that it is free. Most people do not believe that anything can possibly be free, but this program is for truly free. Linux was built from the ground up which leaves room for improvement. The fact that is program is a small operating system allows for easy storage requirements.

The environment also benefits from this program. This provides excellent room for development. Linux works well on personal computers and is portable. The main advantage of Linux is that a programmer can modify the program to fit their needs. This system is open source which means that the development time and code quality is much better. Linux continues to have thousands of people contributing to its quality and details on a daily basis.

Linux does have a few disadvantages. Many companies have concerns with using the open source system. They have a problem of not wanting to release proprietary code to the Linux platform. This is because of the openness of the operating system. Another issue that is being confronted by the companies, is not wanting to release software for Linux.

Microsoft has this problem, due to the fact that if they release their premier product of Office to Linux, they would be taking away from their business, and aiding to that of Linux. Linux also compares to Windows. Windows was initially created for niche environments, and still does cater to these. However, Linux is a safe alternative for those who do not fall into this niche. It is hard to make comparisons between some OS's, because the purposes of each operating system were developed for different reasons and purposes. Open source is a system that is free.

It is an operating system that is open to anyone and can be modified to fit a programmers need. On a daily basis the program can be changed and modified. The open source licensed code is a free distribution channel. Linux 2.4 was developed and released in 2000, and took one-and-one-half years to develop. Linux distributions have gained the support of Wall Street and its investors. The flexibility allows for the distribution to continue to develop.

Linux delivers easy software that gives people the control needed for whatever project they may be using. There are expected to be many different and useful additions to the Linux family in the future, which will cater to any programmers needs. The Linux program is a very interesting program that seems to fit anyone's needs. Linux as well as Unix are useful in everyday life. Linus Torvold can be considered one of the world's most influential men in the computer programming industry, due to his Linux program. His program has allowed the world to have the open source operating system at their fingertips.