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Linux is a multiuser, multitasking, multiplatform computer operating system (strictly speaking, an operating system kernel) that has been developed by an open source, collaborative process involving large numbers of people all over the world. Linux is a 'Unix-like' operating system. This means that it conforms closely to a set of conventions and standards associated with Unix; however, Linux does not contain any of the original Unix code.

Linux has been developed by the open source development method. What that means is that all the work that is done by Linux developers is open and shared. It is open to peer review, which encourages honesty and means that each developer is able to build upon work that has already been done by others. Although this method is often still seen as revolutionary in the field of software development, it is effectively the same method that has been used by science in the Western world since about the time of Newton. The development of Western science has been spectacularly successful precisely because it is based on the same values of openness and shared results and because of the quality assurance provided by the scrutiny of peer review.

This model works so well both in science and software because openness leads to scrutiny, and scrutiny leads to improvement and the correction of errors. Openness also means the ability to build on the results of others. Newton himself said that if he saw further than others, it was 'by standing upon the shoulders of giants.' This sums up very well the power of collaborative development in any field. It contrasts strongly with the traditional closed source development model: a group of programmers working in secrecy with deadlines for work to be handed to a manager. In such a situation, a team member who knows that his work has a bug in it has no incentive to tell anyone; when the program is finally released, no one outside the small development group can look at the code to understand why it does not work as advertised. In contrast, Eric Raymond coined a phrase to describe the power of having a large open source developer community to debug code: 'Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.'

The dramatic success of Linux and of other associated open source projects such as the Apache web server and Samba are proof of the power of the open source development method.

Linux has come a long way since its beginnings in the early 1990s. In 1991, it was one man's hobby: Ten years later, in 2001, IBM announced that it was investing one billion dollars in its Linux strategy.

Heres a nice bit of clarification of what Linux is compared to windows: link