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Linux distinguishes itself from other operating systems such as UNIX and [[Microsoft]] Windows in that the [[source code]] is distributed freely under the [[open source]] ''[[General Public License]]'' (''GPL''). In essence, this means that anybody can modify the code to their needs, and that the development of Linux happens in an open community, rather than in a closed commercial environment. Any improvements to the code will be contributed to the community, and any software that is based upon GPL components inherits the GPL licence.

Linux distinguishes itself from other operating systems such as UNIX and [[Microsoft]] Windows in that the [[source code]] is distributed freely under the [[open source]] ''[[General Public License]]'' (''GPL''). In essence, this means that anybody can modify the code to their needs, and that the development of Linux happens in an open community, rather than in a closed commercial environment. Any improvements to the code will be contributed to the community, and any software that is based upon GPL components inherits the GPL licence.

Linux is also different to the closed source operating system vendors in that the software is distributed by many different companies. Major Linux distributions include [http://www.redhat.com/ Red Hat], [http://www.novell.com/linux/ Suse] and [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu].

Linux is also different to the closed source operating system vendors in that the software is distributed by many different companies. Major Linux distributions include [http://www.redhat.com/ Red Hat], [http://www.novell.com/linux/ Suse], [http://www.mandriva.com/ Mandriva] and [http://www.ubuntu.com/ Ubuntu]. There are literally hundreds of Linux distributions as can be seen on [http://distrowatch.com DistroWatch.com].

Linux is a unix style operating system.  It is known to run 6 or more of the world's top supercomputers.{{fact}} It has legendary reliability.{{who says}} Linux servers can run without reboot for years.{{fact}} It is worth mentioning that there are other free operating systems not based on the Linux kernel that Linux borrow from and has been a source of inspiration to: namely freebsd, openBSD, netBSD, and dragonflyBSD, and the more recent Minix 3 and openSolaris.  Free operating systems allow a great deal of new ideas to be tried and collaboration made possible by the Internet makes teams easy to form. NetBSD is famous for running on almost any hardware{{fact}}, OpenBSD is perhaps the most secure operating system in the world{{fact}}, and freeBSD has been powering computers for free since before Linux became popular{{fact}}.  Opensolaris is a free version of SUN microsystems proprietary Solaris OS.

Linux is a unix style operating system.  In 2005 [http://www.forbes.com/ Forbes.com] posted [http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/15/cz_dl_0315linux_print.html an article] estimating Linux ran 60% of the world's top supercomputers at that time.  In 2003 the [[IBM]] Linux Technology Center [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-rel/?ca=dgr-lnxw01LTP concluded] that Linux has enterprise class reliability.  Linux servers can run without reboot for years as can usually be seen at the [http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html Longest uptimes] URL on [http://www.netcraft.com/ Netcraft.com]. Another location to check on Linux uptime statistics is the [http://counter.li.org/reports/uptimestats.php Machine uptimes] page at [http://counter.li.org/ Linux Counter].  It is worth mentioning that there are other free operating systems not based on the Linux kernel that Linux borrows from and has been a source of inspiration to: namely [http://www.freebsd.org/ FreeBSD], openBSD, netBSD, and dragonflyBSD, and the more recent Minix 3 and openSolaris.  Free operating systems allow a great deal of new ideas to be tried and collaboration made possible by the Internet makes teams easy to form. NetBSD is famous for running on almost any hardware{{fact}}, OpenBSD is perhaps the most secure operating system in the world{{fact}}, and freeBSD has been powering computers for free since before Linux became popular{{fact}}.  Opensolaris is a free version of SUN microsystems proprietary Solaris OS.

Newer distributions of Linux continually raise the bar for usability and creativity. Archlinux, Gentoo, and Gobolinux are 3 interesting distributions.

Newer distributions of Linux continually raise the bar for usability and creativity. Archlinux, Gentoo, and Gobolinux are 3 interesting distributions.