Torvalds, Linus << TAWR vahldz, LEE noos or LY nuhs >> (1969-…), a Finnish computer programmer, created the Linux computer operating system. An operating system is the master control program that runs a computer. Other examples of operating systems include Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
Torvalds completed the earliest version of Linux at the age of 21, while he was a computer science student at the University of Helsinki in Finland. As a student, Torvalds worked with computers that used the UNIX operating system. He wanted to use the same operating system at home. But UNIX was an expensive program designed to run on powerful computers, not on a simpler home computer. Torvalds developed Linux as a version of UNIX that could run on a home computer.
Torvalds started Linux in 1991. He made the system and its source code (the set of computer instructions used to create it) available to others, free of charge, over the Internet. He licensed the system in such a way that anyone can copy and use it. However, if the user makes improvements or additions to the program, they must be made available to others under the same terms. This arrangement, called an open source agreement, encourages computer programmers from all over the world to make additions and improvements. As a result, users claim that Linux runs faster and has fewer crashes (computer failures) than many commercially created operating systems. Although Linux gained millions of users, Torvalds made little or no money from his creation.
Linus Benedict Torvalds was born on Dec. 28, 1969, into a Swedish-speaking family in Helsinki. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Helsinki. In 1997, he moved to the United States to work for Transmeta Corporation, a computer firm in Santa Clara, California. In 2003, Torvalds left Transmeta to join the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a nonprofit group that promoted the development of Linux. The OSDL and a similar group, the Free Standards Group, merged to form the Linux Foundation in 2007. The foundation sponsors the work of Torvalds and other Linux developers.
See also Operating system .
