Linus Torvalds (born on December 28, 1969, Finland, Helsinki) is a famous software engineer. Torvalds marked the beginning of development of the Linux kernel and git revision control system. He grew interested in computers thanks to his maternal grandfather. In 1988 Linus Torvalds joined the University of Helsinki. In 1986 he graduated the University by taking his master degree in computer science. A significant event in his life was the discovering and reading of the book “Operating Systems: Design and Implementation” by Andrew Tanenbaum. The author of this book presented the structure of Unix operating systems basing on the example of “Minix” Software. Linus took a great interest in this. Later on, he purchased a computer with an Intel 386 CPU and installed Minix. By analyzing this system, Linus discovered some defects in the program. Therefore he began to do the terminal emulation program independently. This was the beginning of Linux creation. Linus added new functions to the software. Owing to these innovations, the software acquired features of operational system of full value. Originally, Linus Torvalds was about to name his operational system “Freax”. However his friend suggested naming it Linux.
On the 17th of September, 1991, Linus presented the source code for general use. The system attracted attention of a great number of programmers. They began to work on its improvement and additions. The software has been spreading out up till now on terms of public license GNU-GPL.
It is interesting to note that a penguin Tux is Linus’ talisman. The penguin also became the emblem of Linux. In his book “Just for Fun”, Linus Torvalds wrote, that he chose a penguin for Linux emblem. As once he was pecked by a penguin in the zoo.
In June, 2003, Linus began working under the patronage of the Open Source Development Labs. It is a consortium which is formed by high-tech companies such as JBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, AMP, RedHat Novel and others. The main goal of this consortium is to further the development of Linux.
In January 2007, Open Source Development Laboratory amalgamated with The Free Standards Group to form The Linux Foundation.
