Area Enterance: LINUX | HOSTING

What is LINUX


Linux is a kernel (core) operating system created by Linus Torvalds and distributed under the GPL license (General Public License) that allows us to copy, edit and redistribute at no cost and without violating the law.

Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed, both commercially and non-commercially, by anyone under licenses such as the GNU General Public License.

Linux can be installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from mobile phones, tablet computers and video game consoles, to mainframes and supercomputers. Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers; as of 2009 it has a server market share ranging between 20-40%. Most desktop computers run either Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X, with Linux having anywhere from a low of an estimated 1-2% of the desktop market, up to a possible 5-7%, or more, of the desktop market, depending on the source of the statistics. However, desktop use of Linux has become increasingly popular in recent years, partly owing to the popular Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, and openSUSE distributions and the emergence of netbooks and smart phones running an embedded Linux.

Typically Linux is packaged in a format known as a Linux distribution for desktop and server use. Linux distributions include the Linux kernel and all of the supporting software required to run a complete system, such as utilities and libraries, the X Window System, the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and the Apache HTTP Server. Commonly used applications with desktop Linux systems include the Mozilla Firefox web-browser, the OpenOffice.org office application suite and the GIMP image editor. The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The main supporting Userland in the form of system tools and libraries from the GNU Project (announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman) is the basis for the Free Software Foundation's preferred name GNU/Linux.

The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other components are free and open source software. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is by far the most widely used. Some free and open source software licenses are based on the principle of copyleft, a kind of reciprocity: any work derived from a copyleft piece of software must also be copyleft itself. The most common free software license, the GNU GPL, is a form of copyleft, and is used for the Linux kernel and many of the components from the GNU project. (linux dedicated)


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