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Linux is a "UNIX-like" operating system first developed by Linus Torvalds, a 21 year old Finnish software engineer, in 1991. It is one of the most well-known examples of open-source and free software. From the beginning, Linus made the source code for his operating available to the community of developers, and since then, the Linux operating system and kernel are often used as a prime example of the benefits of open-source community development.

Pros & Cons

Pros:
16 people have already voted. Do you agree?

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Free and open-source
+11agreedisagree

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Strong developer community
+8agreedisagree

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Enterprise-class server operating system
+8agreedisagree

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Spawned many variations and distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.)
+7agreedisagree

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Easily modified to be used in embedded systems
+7agreedisagree

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Stable platform with long uptimes
+7agreedisagree

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Designed for multiple users because of UNIX roots
+7agreedisagree

Cons:
Do you agree?

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Most Windows programs aren't available in Linux versions
+9agreedisagree

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Not all hardware is readily supported.
+7agreedisagree

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driver stability - many drivers are just ports of windows drivers
+1agreedisagree

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Difficult to learn and install
-4agreedisagree

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No one company is responsible for Linux
-5agreedisagree

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Uses

Linux is most popular used as a server operating system, and in embeddable systems. The stable, customizable, and free nature of Linux make it an ideal choice often in these cases. Many web servers run on Linux, with a LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP) setup being the most common.

Distributions

There are many distributions and variations of the Linux Kernel. Many of the distributions are customized to specific applications and are often made to have a more familiar UI. Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Gentoo, and SUSE are five of the most common distributions of the Linux Kernel.

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    Price $0.00
    Release Date Aug. 25, 1991

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    439 views and 155 edits (see all)
    Created: 11/19/2007 - 13:46
    Modified: 07/22/2008 - 18:09