Why linux rocks(zz)

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Linux is more than a hip buzzword in computing. It is more than the latest fad. It was modeled on the Unix operating system first developed by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson at AT&T. Unix was developed to run the largest network in world, the AT&T telephone system, and it did. During the development of Unix there were fundamental philosophies at work. The Unix operating system (OS) was designed to be scalable, reliable, modular, secure and portable with network extensibility.

The development of Unix eventually led to the POSIX standard which defines much of the Linux architecture. Unlike many single user desktop console based operating systems, Linux is a multi-user, multi-tasking, network enabled operating system accessible from anywhere on the network. Multiple users can access a Linux computer remotely each running their own individual desktop instance all at the same time. The Linux/Unix X-Windows network enabled multi-user windowing system allows full remote access. This is a sharp contrast to a single user console based OS which requires the user to be physically present at the computer in order to access his desktop and applications and limiting access to one user at a time. Linux/Unix was designed to support this capability is at the core of its design philosophy. This is why telnet/ssh is used by Linux/Unix administrators as a primary remote access tool rather than the automobile which is the primary remote access tool of other OS administrators (i.e. Windows 98).

The use of Linux/Unix pipes, tees and redirection allows a modular approach to the design of Linux/Unix tools. It allows the tool to extend it's capability by chaining input and output with other tools. Compared with DEC/VMS this was a great leap in OS design philosophy. One use to have to build paging and formatting capability into a tool instead ot leveraging the capabilities of other tools like Linux/Unix software tools "more", "sort", "less" and "awk".

The use of Linux/Unix shell scripts provide a batch scripting capability which can be scheduled, propagated to other systems or used to create new commands. GUI only interfaces may require physical point and clicks on each system to perform a task. While some debate GUI vs commands and scripts, Linux/Unix embraces both.

The system startup and shutdown is controlled by the system initialization configuration file /etc/inittab and the init scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d/... The system startup and shutdown procedures are configurable and extensible. One may control which services are started upon system boot and which are terminated on system shutdown as well as the order sequence dependencies. This allows for the orderly shutdown of databases and other sensitive programs which should be shutdown by the application itself rather than killed while processing which could lead to data corruption or loss. The system can be booted to various "init" states allowing the system to operate in various configurations to support maintenance and system debugging. On many competing operating systems, the shutdown procedure is not extensible or modifiable.

Linux avoids the MS/Windows "DLL HELL" which causes Windows or its applications to fail when a newer or incompatable run-time dynamic linked library (DLL) is installed. (See Microsoft DLL database used to help avoid conflicts) Linux employs version numbers into it's run-time shared objects libraries which can coexist on the system with the same libraries of different version releases. The Linux RPM package management system also helps resolve dependencies and conflicts with files and libraries.

The file system directory structure is completely configurable and not limited to drive letters such as A, C or D as a top level mount point. Mount points can be created at any point in the directory hierarchy. The Linux/Unix file system is also network enabled (using NFS) to extend it's reach. The directly attached storage as well as networked file systems are mountable at any point the the filesystem directory hierarchy.

It is the kernel which is at the heart of the Linux/Unix operating system. It is responsible for enabling multi-tasking, multi-user, multi-threading, multi-processing, security, interfacing with hardware and the network. It is this kernel which Linus Torvalds developed based on the Posix/Unix design which gives Linux its name. Shells, user applications and everything else interfaces with this kernel. Currently Linux kernel development is supported by OSDL.org, a consortium of telecommunications and computer software and hardware companies. The source code is published under the GNU public license. This Open Source license has led to the rapid development, debugging, deployment and acceptance.

Hardware vendors such as IBM, Hewlet Packard and SGI have bet their future on Linux. Oracle has made it their development platform and thus the platform of first release. Deployment of corporate enterprise software such as SAP and Oracle on Linux as a primary platform have ensured Linux as a cornerstone of the corporate computing infrastructure. The open source license has rid Linux of any suspicion of monopoly extension or restrictive and expensive licensing structures. It is also the nature of the Linux open source kernel software to be more bug free and secure than its competitors as it is reviewed by developers everywhere rather than by a limited group of security analysts. Linux has been deployed commercially on a vast array of hardware from PDA's (Sharp Zaurus) to laptops, wokstations, servers, mainframes (IBM S/390) and supercomputers (SGI Altix, Beowulf clusters) and is making its way into more devices each day (routers, satellites, automobiles, ...).

Future and advanced development is ensured as the source code is available to all. It is studied in universities and institutions worldwide. PhD candidates and corporate researchers use Linux to try advanced computing concepts. The software when made available must compete with other advanced concepts and those which withstand the rigors of first users and scrutiny of the development community are approved and included into the Linux kernel. Once adopted as part of Linux it then must also continue to survive challengers. This will help ensure that Linux is always the best it can be. Developers who submit source code know that it will face scrutiny from a worldwide pool of developers and reviewers thus positively influencing one to put forth well written code.

Linux is here to stay, it is getting stronger day by day and that is good from a technical, financial and economic point of view.
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