Linux is Open Source

Historically, most software has been issued under a closed-source license, meaning that you get the right to use the machine code, but cannot see the source code. Often the license explicitly says that you may not attempt to reverse engineer the machine code back to source code to figure out what it does!

The development of Linux closely parallels the rise of open source software. Open source takes a source-centric view of software. The open source philosophy is that you have a right to obtain the software source code and to modify it for your own use.

Linux adopted this philosophy to great success. Linus made the source programming code (the instructions a computer uses to operate) freely available, allowing others to join in and shape this fledgling operating system. It was not the first system to be developed by a volunteer group, but since it was built from scratch, early adopters could influence the project’s direction. People took the source, made changes, and shared them back with the rest of the group, greatly accelerating the pace of development, and ensuring mistakes from other operating systems were not repeated.

Consider This

The source code may be written in any of hundreds of different languages. Linux happens to be written in C, a versatile and relatively easy language to learn, which shares history with the original UNIX. This decision, made long before it’s utility was proven, turned out to be crucial in its nearly universal adoption as the primary operating system for internet servers.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Decision Points

Role The first decision when specifying any computer system is the machine’s role. Will you be sitting at the console running productivity applications or web browsing? If so, a familiar  desktop  is best. Will the machine be accessed remotely by many users or provide services to remote users? Then it’s a  server . Servers typically sit in a rack and share a keyboard and monitor with many other computers, since console access is generally only used for configuration and troubleshooting. Servers generally run as a CLI, which frees up resources for the real purpose of the computer: serving information to clients (any user or system that accesses resources remotely). Desktop systems primarily run a GUI for the ease of use of their users. Function Next, determine the functions of the machine. Is there specific software it needs to run, or specific functions it needs to perform? Will there be hundreds, even thousands, of these machines running at the same time? What is...
Read more

Operating Systems

Image
An  operating system  is software that runs on a computing device and manages the hardware and software components that make up a functional computing system. Modern operating systems don’t just manage hardware and software resources, they schedule programs to run in a multi-tasking manner (sharing the processor so that multiple tasks can occur apparently simultaneously), provide standard services that allow users and programs to request something happen (for example a print job) from the operating system, and provided it’s properly requested, the operating system will accept the request and perform the function needed. Desktop and server operating systems are by nature more complex than an operating system that runs on a single-purpose device such as a firewall, or a mobile phone. From a simple set-top box that provides a menu interface for a cable provider, to supercomputers and massive, parallel computing clusters, the generic term  operating system  is used t...
Read more

Linux is Everywhere

Image
  Linux is Everywhere Hello and welcome to  Information Technology HelpDesk Online ! Linux is everywhere; Linux jobs are everywhere. There is a demand for Linux skills in just about every industry and job category on the planet, and not enough Linux talent to meet this growing demand. It’s also fun and rewarding to work with something that’s so much a part of our modern lives yet which so few people understand. If someone says they have Linux experience, it might refer to configuring systems, running web servers, or any number of other services and programs that operate on top of Linux. Over time, Linux administration has evolved to encompass just about every task that a modern business, educational institution, or government organization might use in their daily operations. The journey of learning you are beginning today has no ending point. It can take you in a myriad of different directions, from cybersecurity to application and game development, system administrati...
Read more