Linux turns 25

Abstract

Revolution was brewing on the European periphery in the summer of 1991. Years of struggle by outspoken rebels against the status quo were coming to a boil, and a way of life that once seemed unassailable neared its collapse. Ask most historians to tell you about that revolution and they'll describe the events that preceded the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As an attempted coup d'etat by reactionary hard-liners failed and Boris Yeltsin outlawed the Communist Party, it became clear to the world that the radical fervor that began sweeping across Eastern Europe in the late 1980s would soon undo the once-mighty Soviet empire. Yet, in another corner of Europe, a revolution of a different sort was stirring. No one-not even its chief instigator-recognized its significance. Nonetheless, the code that an irreverent Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds quietly unveiled in August 1991 has ended up touching at least as many lives as did the political upheavals of the late 20th century. I'm talking, of course, about Linux.