1991: The Linux Kernel Appears
In August 1991 Linus Torvalds, a humble undergraduate based in Finland, announced on Usenet that he had built a free kernel for a Unix-like operating system. Although Torvalds at the time never expected his kernel, which came to be known as Linux, to gain a significant following, it ended up as probably the most famous free and open source software program. Combined with the tools produced by the GNU project (whose own efforts to create a kernel, called Hurd, never really took off), the Linux kernel became wildly successful.
In August 1991 Linus Torvalds, a humble undergraduate based in Finland, announced on Usenet that he had built a free kernel for a Unix-like operating system. Although Torvalds at the time never expected his kernel, which came to be known as Linux, to gain a significant following, it ended up as probably the most famous free and open source software program. Combined with the tools produced by the GNU project (whose own efforts to create a kernel, called Hurd, never really took off), the Linux kernel became wildly successful.
