It's hard to believe that Microsoft boss Bill Gates would have anything to fear from a Finnish computer student who created a free piece of computer software that was inspired by a 30 year-old operating system. The fact is Linux has created quite a stir in the computing world and could prove to be a threat to Microsoft's domination of the operating system market. The benefit of this structure is that UNIX is highly customizable and new features are relatively simple to add. As UNIX spread throughout the computing world, others wanted to harness it and adapt it for their own needs. Many different groups came up with their own variations on the program.
Open source is software that can be freely shared with no one person owning the code.
Since its introduction, Linux has gained a foothold among tech-savvy computer users. One of its most ubiquitous locations is in the web server market where Linux based Apache has become one of the most popular platforms on the Internet. While it's more often found working in the background, many Linux proponents want the OS to challenge Microsoft for space on the desktop. Cost Effective One of the biggest advantages to running a Linux based system is the cost of hardware. If you have a 386 or 486 collecting dust, you are out of luck if you want to run anything from Windows 95 on up.