From the course: Linux: Overview and Installation

What is Linux? - Linux Tutorial

From the course: Linux: Overview and Installation

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What is Linux?

- [Instructor] What is Linux? What if I told you that a college student going to school in Finland created an operating system that is now the most popular in the world, is used on 1.3 billion devices, and he gave it away to the world for free? You may not be familiar with Linux, but it's very likely that you already use it in some form, or another. Android, the world's most popular operating system is based on Linux, and Apple's iOS is based on BSD Unix, a close cousin. Samsung's mobile operating system, Tizen, used in their smartwatches, smart TVs, and some smart phones is Linux. Amazon's Fire OS, used on their Fire Tablets is Linux. Jolla's Sailfish OS mobile operating system is Linux, as is Google's Chrome OS used on Chromebooks built by many different manufacturers. The majority of all websites in the world are run on Linux and open source, including all of the top 10 most popular websites. The most popular scripting languages, including PHP, Python and Ruby are open source, and also come with Linux. Cloud-based services such as Google, Amazon, Twitter and Facebook rely on data centers full of Linux servers to provide their services. Many companies use Linux as the basis for their products, including Roku, Amazon, and TiVo media players, Linksys, Buffalo, and NETGEAR routers, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo eReaders, Google's Chromebooks and most in-car interactive displays are Linux. Most people use Linux-based devices directly or interact with Linux every day without even knowing it. So, what is Linux? Is it an operating system? Is it a kernel? Is it a software development platform? Is it a philosophy? This is what we're here to find out.

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