**The Linux project has just turned 23 and it's now the biggest collaborative endeavor in the world, with thousands of people working on it.**
Back in 1991, a young programmer called Linus Torvalds wanted to make a free operating system that wasn't going to be as big as the GNU project and that was just a hobby. He started something that would turn out to be the most successful operating system on the planet, but no one would have been able to guess it back then.
Linus Torvalds sent an email on August 25, 1991, asking for help in testing his new operating system. Things haven't changed all that much in the meantime and he still sends emails about new Linux releases, although back then it wasn't called like that.
"I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work."
"This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-) PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(. " [wrote][1] Linus Torvalds.
This is the entire mails that started it all, although it's interesting to see how things have evolved since then. The Linux operating system caught on, especially on the server market, but the power of Linux also extended in other areas.
In fact, it's hard to find any technology that hasn't been influenced by a Linus OS. Phones, TVs, fridges, minicomputers, consoles, tablets, and basically everything that has a chip in it is capable of running Linux or it already has some sort of Linux-based OS installed on it.
Linux is omnipresent on billions of devices and its influence is growing each year on an exponential basis. You might think that Linus is also the wealthiest man on the planet, but remember, Linux is free software and anyone can use it, modify it, and make money of it. He didn't do it for the money.
Linus Torvalds started a revolution in 1991, but it hasn't ended. In fact, you could say that it's just getting started.
> Happy Anniversary, Linux! Please join us in celebrating 23 years of the free OS that has changed the world. [pic.twitter.com/mTVApV85gD][2]
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> — The Linux Foundation (@linuxfoundation) [August 25, 2014][3]
