Linux was originally founded by Linus Torvalds. In 1991 he was a second-year computer science student in Finland. He was looking for an operating system similar to UNIX, but both UNIX and the hardware it ran on were prohibitively expensive. A UNIX version called Minix was available for free, but it did not reasonably meet his needs as it was simply a student operating system, designed primarily as a teaching tool rather than an industry-strength operating system. As a result, Torvalds studied Minix and began writing a new version. After six months of work to produce the new operating system, Torvalds made very little progress toward making the system useful. He began posting his intentions and including his project's progress on the Internet and found that many programmers around the world shared his interest. After a brilliant collaboration between some of the smartest people in computer science, programmers began contributing to Linus' project by adding improvements and fixing bugs. This helped accelerate and advance Torvalds' project. An operating system is a form of software considered the backbone of a computer, managing both software and hardware resources. It has control over computer resources ranging from allocating memory to recognizing input from external devices and transmitting output to computer displays, to managing all interactions between the user and the hardware. (LeBlanc, 2005.) The operating system is not simply a program as it is made up of many smaller programs and utilities that allow the user to run other programs on top of the operating system. Application programs make use of the operating system by requesting it... middle of paper... Technologies have proven resilient enough to evolve through strong technical cultures, distinctive arts, and an associated design philosophy passed down through generations of engineers and computer enthusiasts . Linux's transition from a hacking project to globalization was due to a lot of effort and dedication. While the GNU Project laid the foundation for open source software development, Linus Torvalds' endless interest and passion for computing gave birth to Linux.ReferencesGNU Operating System (2011). What is GNU? (online). http://www.gnu.orgLeBlanc, D. (2005). Linux for dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Saha, A. (2011). Learn to program. In: Linux Journal (November 2011). Salzmann, P. J. (2005). The Linux kernel module programming guide. In: KernelModule Programming (vol.5, pp.156-158).