What Is Linux?
Linux, also known as GNU/Linux, is a free, UNIX-like operating system, developed originally for home PCs, but which now runs on practically every hardware platform available including PowerPC, Macintosh, DEC Alpha, Sun Sparc, ARM, Mainframes, and many others. Linux aims for POSIX compliancy to maintain maximum compatibility with other UNIX-like systems. With millions of users worldwide, Linux is probably the most popular UNIX-like OS in the world.
The Open Voting system is constructed on Linux, or to be more accurate, it is constructed on one of the widely available Linux distributions. The Linux kernel and the components of these distributions are open source. This means not only can they be inspected, but they can also be repaired if found to be flawed. Linux distributions have become highly stable platforms; it is now quite common for Linux-based servers to run for years on end without intervention or fault. Linux software, particularly the code in the kernel, is inspected by many people and tested by many more people, before it is released. The people who write, inspect, and test Linux code are people who have risen to these roles through a process of peer-selection. The brains, eyes, and hands that construct the Linux kernel are among the best in the industry. Linux is free to use. This substantially reduces the cost of the components of the Open Voting system. There are those who argue that Linux has higher life cycle cost
Linux or GNU/Linux is an Operating System developed in collaboration by thousands of volunteers and organizations all over the world. Linux is Free/Open Source software (see ” What is Free/Open Source software ?”). Over the years it has grown into a mature, state-of-the-art OS that powers an incredible variety of computers (from cell phones to “big iron” servers) for a wide range of applications. Although most of the pieces that make up Linux are freely available on the Internet, using them to get a working system together is by no means a trivial task – it is called building a Linux distribution, and this very task is our main job at Mandriva. We build a system that’s more than the sum of its parts. Although, strictly speaking, Linux is just a kernel (the “core” of an Operating System), a Linux system such as Mandriva Linux provides much more than simply the basic functionnality of an Operating System. Mandriva Linux includes for instance a full-featured Office suite among hundreds of
