Linux: The story of an idea that reshaped the world

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There are numbers you don’t comprehend — you only marvel at them.

The Android smartphone in your pocket runs on Linux. The server delivering this webpage runs on Linux. Your bank’s cash machines, the city’s traffic systems, your TV provider’s set-top box, the ISS orbiting overhead — Linux. Current estimates put the number of active Linux installations above four billion. No other operating system on Earth comes even close.

No proprietary product, no corporation, no marketing machine has ever achieved that. A collective of volunteers, on the other hand, did. Free of charge. Freely accessible. Without central authority.

History on libcom.de

Linux: The story of an idea that reshaped the world