preview

Linus Torvalds

Decent Essays

What would you do if you were faced with a system that you weren’t satisfied with? Would you just accept the system? Would you look for a new one? Linus Torvalds found himself in that situation while in college. His solution: create his own. Due to my research, I believe that I am able to touch upon the life of Mr. Torvalds, and the creation for which he is most widely known. It is my hope to commemorate Mr. Torvalds and his work. The efforts put forth by Linus Torvalds have changed computing in a large way, and for those with an interest in computers, few can claim such significance as he.
Linus Torvalds, born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland, first developed an interest in computers from his maternal grandfather, according to an archived biography from linux.org. He began studying computer science at …show more content…

Torvalds released the very first version of Linux in the September of 1991 at the age of twenty-one. At the time, he was not expecting nearly the level of success his program would eventually receive. In fact, when asked what he originally hoped for from the release of Linux during an interview with Computerworld magazine in October of 2007, he stated “It certainly wasn’t money, since the original copyright was very strict about that. I didn’t think that Linux would become as big and popular as it is now, so it wasn’t really fame, either. I’d like to say it was for fun.”
One of the most praised aspects of the Linux kernel is that it is completely open source. He published the source code that comprised Linux under the GNU General Public license, which ensured that, while anyone can edit and contribute to the development of Linux, they must release the source code for the changes that they make. Due to this, many have used the Linux kernel in creating their own operating systems. There are many “Linux distributions”, which are third-party operating systems built upon the Linux kernel and operating systems, available, including Ubuntu, Kali Linux, and

Get Access