a_n_d_e_r_s's Journal: Linux 20 years from a hobby to world dominance

Today its 20 years ago that Linus Torvalds send a little message to a Minix diskussions group:

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 [...] Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

Linus had a dream to be able to run UNIX like operating system on his home computer. But since none was available he did like many before and after him has done - he started to program it himself. Andra sÃ¥g vad han hade gjort, gillade det och bÃrjade hjÃlpa till att utveckla Linux.

Other saw what he did and liked it and helped him create the world class operating system of today. Every day many and not far from 1 million new CPU for the first time start to run Linux. From the super computers of today to the Linux-distrubution Android in cell phones - they all run Linux. World domination in nearly all ways - well except for the desktop so far.

What a long strange trip it's been

[symbolset]

Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

- "The Way We Live Now: Questions for Linus Torvalds". New York Times. 2003-09-28.