Linux

A computer operating system first developed by Linus Torvalds. Linux became popular in the late 1990s as a free alternative to the Windows operating system.

Abbreviated from Linus' Unix. Linux is available under the terms of the GNU GPL for a multitude of platforms.

Technically speaking, the term Linux should refer only to the Linux kernel. A full distribution such as [Red Hat], [SuSE], or [Debian] contains much software not created by Linus Torvalds and his group. Some (notably Richard M Stallman) suggest that Linux distributions should be called GNULinux.