Free for All | Page 6

programming procedure as a practical decision. He was a

poor student at the time, and this operating system was merely a hobby. If he had tried to
sell it, he wouldn't have gotten anything for it. He certainly had no money to build a
company that could polish the software and market it. So he just sent out copies over the
Internet.
Sharing software had already been endorsed by Richard Stallman, a legendary
programmer from MIT who believed that keeping source code private was a sin and a
crime against humanity. A programmer who shares the source code lets others learn, and
those others can contribute their ideas back into the mix. Closed source code leaves users
frustrated because they can't learn about the software or fix any bugs. Stallman broke
away from MIT in 1984 when he founded the Free Software Foundation. This became
the organization that sponsored Stallman's grand project to free source code, a project he
called GNU. In the 1980s, Stallman created very advanced tools like the GNU Emacs text
editor, which people could use to write programs and articles. Others donated their work
and the GNU project soon included a wide range of tools, utilities, and games. All of
them were distributed for free.
Torvalds looked at Stallman and decided to follow his lead with open source code.
Torvalds's free software began to attract people who liked to play around with technology.
Some just glanced at it. Others messed around for a few hours. Free is a powerful
incentive. It doesn't let money, credit cards, purchase orders, and the boss's approval get
in the way of curiosity. A few, like Alan Cox, had such a good time taking apart an
operating system that they stayed on and began contributing back to the project.
In time, more and more people like Alan Cox discovered Torvalds's little project on the
Net. Some slept late. Others kept normal hours and worked in offices. Some just found
bugs. Others fixed the bugs. Still others added new features that they wanted. Slowly, the
operating system grew from a toy that satisfied the curiosity of computer scientists into a
usable tool that powers supercomputers, web servers, and millions of other machines
around the world.
Today, about a thousand people regularly work with people like Alan Cox on the
development of the Linux kernel, the official name for the part of the operating system
that Torvalds started writing back in 1991. That may not be an accurate estimate because
many people check in for a few weeks when a project requires their participation. Some
follow everything, but most people are just interested in little corners. Many other
programmers have contributed various pieces of software such as word processors or
spreadsheets. All of these are bundled together into packages that are often called plain
Linux or GNU/Linux and shipped by companies like Red Hat or more ad hoc groups like
Debian.[^1] While Torvalds only wrote the core kernel, people use his name, Linux, to
stand for a whole body of software written by thousands of others. It's not exactly fair,
but most let it slide. If there hadn't been the Linux kernel, the users wouldn't have the
ability to run software on a completely free system. The free software would need to
interact with something from Microsoft, Apple, or IBM. Of course, if it weren't for all of
the other free software from Berkeley, the GNU project, and thousands of other garages
around the world, there would be little for the Linux kernel to do.

[1]: /Linux Weekly News/ keeps a complete list of distributors. These range from the
small, one- or two-man operations to the biggest, most corporate ones like Red Hat:
Alzza Linux, Apokalypse, Armed Linux, Bad Penguin Linux, Bastille Linux, Best Linux
(Finnish/Swedish), Bifrost, Black Cat Linux (Ukrainian/Russian), Caldera OpenLinux,
CCLinux, Chinese Linux Extension, Complete Linux, Conectiva Linux (Brazilian),
Debian GNU/Linux, Definite Linux, DemoLinux, DLD, DLite, DLX, DragonLinux,
easyLinux, Enoch, Eridani Star System, Eonova Linux, e-smith server and gateway,
Eurielec Linux (Spanish), eXecutive Linux, floppyfw, Floppix, Green Frog Linux, hal91,
Hard Hat Linux, Immunix, Independence, Jurix, Kha0s Linux, KRUD, KSI-Linux,
Laetos, LEM, Linux Cyrillic Edition, LinuxGT, Linux-Kheops (French), Linux MLD
(Japanese), LinuxOne OS, LinuxPPC, LinuxPPP (Mexican), Linux Pro Plus, Linux
Router Project, LOAF, LSD, Mandrake, Mastodon, MicroLinux, MkLinux, muLinux,
nanoLinux II, NoMad Linux, OpenClassroom, Peanut Linux, Plamo Linux, PLD, Project
Ballantain, PROSA, QuadLinux, Red Hat, Rock Linux, RunOnCD, ShareTheNet,
Skygate, Slackware, Small Linux, Stampede, Stataboware, Storm Linux, SuSE, Tomsrtbt,
Trinux, TurboLinux, uClinux, Vine Linux, WinLinux 2000, Xdenu, XTeamLinux, and
Yellow Dog Linux. Officially, Linus Torvalds is the final arbiter for the kernel and the
one who makes the final decisions about new features. In practice, the group runs like a
loosely knit "ad-hocracy." Some people might care about a particular feature like