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Linux Turns 8

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the happy-birthday dept.

Skogshuggarn writes "The initial public release of Linux - version 0.01 - occurred on the 17th September 1991. The world's best operating system is therefore 8 years old this Friday. Happy Birthday " Seems like only yesterday that our little kernel was in potty training, and now here it is all grown up and ready for world domination.

7 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdotted by cabalamat · · Score: 4

    Oh No - I've been slashdotted

    -- Phil Hunt, philh@vision25.demon.co.uk

  2. Wow! by Dicky · · Score: 3
    I've been in the Linux 'world' for nearly 4 years now, which makes me an old-timer. In that time, I've learnt more about computers and Unix than I ever wanted to know :-) - which lead directly to my getting a job as a developer at a Unix vendor. I have met a lot of great people, both on-line and IRL. I have written and released a couple of GPLed programs (note to self: do some work on released software!).

    This is what Richard Stallman is really working for. Freedom to learn and really use our own computers, and to allow communities to form around those systems.

    We are lucky to be living in these times. I think that, in the future, computer science students will learn about the creation of software engineering in the 1970s, the genesis of the personal computer in the 1980s, and the explosion of the Internet and free software in the 1990s. That can only be a good thing.

    --
    Paranoia isn't an infectious condition, it's a way of life
  3. I remember... by Robert+Hayden · · Score: 3
    (crotchety old man)I remember when Linux came and ran on just one floppy disk. Back then the only thing you could do was dial in with minicom, which was really just a Telix clone. You youngin's don't know how good you got it!(/crotchety old man)

    Man, it's nice to see how far our kids have come.

  4. Re:Hahaha by ElJefe · · Score: 3

    No, you're using the wrong base. It's actually 100 years old.

    -ElJefe

  5. alt.linux, MCC release, other old-timer memories.. by *Doh* · · Score: 3

    Anyone else remember alt.linux?

    When I started using Linux in Jan 1992 it was like a gift from God. No more begging root accounts from stressed Unix admins at school; and I had a system I could use to get work done on at night when the lab was closed. On a lowly 386sx/16 w/4MB of RAM, no less!

    How about the MCC release (the first distro ever)?

    How about that doctor (Dr. W-something) from a cancer center who deployed Linux in production (in a hospital, no less!) as early as late '92? He would write these great, long, detailed big reports to the kernel list.

    I'd love to find some of the other early users (pre-1992) and swap memories...

  6. Re:There was a mistake in that report.. by m3000 · · Score: 4

    The "Worlds Best Operating System" can mean different things to different people. For some, Linux, for others, Windows. Or for you, FreeBSD. It's all subjective. Myself, I prefer Windows because it's the best for me.

  7. And Windows NT is turning 11 next month... by LinuxParanoid · · Score: 3

    Dave Cutler (Windows NT architect) went to work for M$ in October 1988.

    Which raises the question: if Linux is growing so much faster than any other OS ever, how much worse/better is NT for being three years older?

    Something to think about before you make the claim and the MS marketing team tries to shoot it down.

    --LinuxParanoid