Linux software
Linux is our primary development platform, it is well known of its stability and flexibility.
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development; its underlying source code can be modified, used, and redistributed by anyone, freely.
Predominantly known for its use in servers, Linux has gained the support of corporations such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell, and is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computer hardware, including desktop computers, supercomputers, and embedded devices such as mobile phones and routers.
Philosophy
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 the most well-known and widely used one. Some free and open source software licences 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 used for the Linux kernel and many of the components from the GNU project.
Market share and uptake
Many quantitative studies of open source software focus on topics including market share and reliability, with numerous studies specifically examining Linux. The Linux market is growing rapidly, and the revenue of servers, desktops, and packaged software running Linux is expected to exceed .7 billion by 2008 (equivalent to 26.4€ billion). The actual installed user base may be higher than indicated by this figure, as most Linux distributions and applications are freely available and redistributable.
Text above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article.
