The GNU UNIX Linux project

In the early days of UNIX, it was used in educational and research environments.

American laws prevented AT & T from participating in the computer market, so it gave away its UNIX system to universities and some companies.

In addition to binary versions of the system, the complete source code was distributed, which allowed any programmer to incorporate their own modifications to the system.

When UNIX began to gain importance in the computer market AT & T started its commercial distribution.

From that moment, the source code was no longer included with the rest of the system. This meant the loss of a source of invaluable help in explaining the technologies of operating systems in universities.

That is why Andrew Tannenbaum decided to program his own UNIX clone, which he called Minix. His goal was to serve as a basis for explanations in his classes at the university.

Therefore, it should not be excessively complex, but it would have to incorporate the latest developments in technology. It was also convenient that the students could use it to install it in their homes, and thus be able to carry out experiments without the need of a work station.

At that time the most popular personal computers were IBM PC, which at that time did not even incorporate a hard drive. The first versions of Minix fit in one or two floppy and could be executed from any PC.

Of course, another of the problems of UNIX commercialization was that it was no longer free, and since then organizations that want to use it should pay for it.

This was the trigger for the GNU project.

The GNU project is an attempt to write a portable operating system, advanced, free and public source code, and look identical to UNIX.

The word portable means that it must be able to run on any type of platform, and not only on PCs with an Intel processor.

The programs of the GNU project are distributed a special license, called GPL (General Public License, General Public License), which guarantees that the final users of the program can make copies of it without any type of restriction.

It also allows them to make changes to the source code, as long as they preserve the copyright of the original program.

The GNU project is being carried out by a multitude of companies and thousands of volunteers around the world. The Internet network has made it possible to disseminate the programs of the project and at the same time facilitated their creation.

The tools of the GNU project have nothing to envy to the commercial programs and in many cases they surpass them in quality. Millions of users use them in their daily work. And all this, completely free.