<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Flpilinux.com%2Flinux-time-line.html"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Flpilinux.com%2Flinux-time-line.html" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><p>“Ready? Here we go:<br />
August 1991</p>
<p>“Hello everybody out there using minix – 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 <img src='http://lpilinux.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> Linus (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 <img src='http://lpilinux.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif' alt=':-(' class='wp-smiley' /> .”<br />
September 1991</p>
<p>Linux version 0.01 is released and put on the Net.<br />
April 1992</p>
<p>The first Linux newsgroup, comp.os.linux, is proposed and started by Ari Lemmke.<br />
October 1992</p>
<p>Peter MacDonald announces SLS, the first standalone Linux install. At least 10MB of space on disk was recommended.<br />
June 1993</p>
<p>Slackware, by Patrick Volkerding, becomes the first commercial standalone distribution and quickly becomes popular within the Linux community.<br />
August 1993</p>
<p>Matt Welsh’s Linux Installation and Getting Started, version 1 is released. This is the first book on Linux.<br />
March 1994</p>
<p>The first issue of Linux Journal is published. This issue featured an interview with Linus Torvalds and articles written by Phil Hughes, Robert “Bob” Young, Michael K. Johnson, Arnold Robbins, Matt Welsh, Ian A. Murdock, Frank B. Brokken, K. Kubat, Micahel Kraehe and Bernie Thompson. Advertisers in the premier issue include Algorithms Inc., Amtec Engineering, Basmark, Fintronic (later became VA Research, VA Linux Systems, then…), Infomagic, Prime Time Freeware, Promox, Signum Support, SSC, Trans Ameritech, USENIX, Windsor Tech and Yggdrasil.</p>
<p>Linux 1.0 is released.<br />
June 1994</p>
<p>While at a conference in New Orleans, Jon “maddog” Hall persuades Linus to port Linux to DEC’s 64-bit Alpha computer processor chip. Less than two weeks later, maddog had also persuaded DEC to fund the project. An Alpha workstation was immediately sent to Linus. “Digital [DEC] and the Linux community formed the first truly successful venture of suits and Linux geeks working together”, said maddog.</p>
<p>Linux International, a nonprofit vendor organization, is founded by Jon “maddog” Hall. Linux International goes on to become a major contributor to the success of Linux, helping corporations and others work toward the promotion of the Linux operating system.<br />
August 1994</p>
<p>Linux trademark dispute: is Linux trademarked? William R. Della Croce, Jr. files for the trademark “Linux” on August 15, 1994, and it is registered in September. Della Croce has no known involvement in the Linux community yet sends letters out to prominent Linux companies demanding money for use of the trademark “Linux”. A lawsuit is filed in 1996 against Della Croce. Plaintiffs in the suit include Linus Torvalds; Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. (publishers of Linux Journal); Yggdrasil Computing, Inc.; Linux International; and WorkGroup Solutions (also known as LinuxMall). The plaintiffs prevail, and in 1997 announce the matter as settled by the assignment of the mark to Linus Torvalds on behalf of all Petitioners and Linux users.<br />
September 1994</p>
<p>Linux is first mentioned in the mainstream press. Wired magazine features an article titled “Kernel Kid”, by Seth Rosenthal. He writes: “So, is Linus going to become the Bill Gates of Finland? Maybe not. He claims to be ‘by no means a good student’ and is in no hurry to graduate since ‘Linux has taken a lot of time from my studies, and I like the work I have at the University which keeps me alive.”’</p>
<p>Randolph Bentson reports on the world’s first vendor-supported Linux device driver in Linux Journal. Cyclades gave him a multiport serial card in exchange for developing a Linux driver for it.<br />
December 1994</p>
<p>A major tradeshow and conference take notice of Linux. Open Systems World features a Linux track, hosted by Linux Journal. Two days of seminars include Eric Youngdale, Donald Becker, Dirk Hohndel, Phil Hughes, Michael K. Johnson and David Wexelblat as speakers.<br />
April 1995</p>
<p>Linux Expo, the first Linux-specific tradeshow and conference series, launches, thanks to the folks at North Carolina State University and in particular, Donnie Barnes. Speakers include Marc Ewing, Rik Faith and Michael K. Johnson, among others. Linux Expo snowballs and becomes the most popular and well-attended annual Linux show for the next several years (after three years Red Hat takes over organization and becomes the major sponsor). The price for entry into the exhibit hall and a pass to the conferences? $4.<br />
January 1997</p>
<p>First “Linux virus” discovered. Called Bliss, it actually works on any UNIX-like OS and offers a helpful–“bliss-uninfect-files-please” command-line option. Alan Cox points out that Bliss “does not circumvent the security of the system, it relies on people with privilege to do something dumb” and reminds users to install digitally signed software from trustworthy sites only and to check signatures before installing.</p>
<p>“In fact it’s probably easier to write a virus for Linux because it’s open source and the code is available. So we will be seeing more Linux viruses as the OS becomes more common and popular.”–Wishful thinking from McAfee<br />
January 1998</p>
<p>Linux Weekly News begins publication with Jonathan Corbet and Elizabeth Coolbaugh as founders. The very first issue, dated January 22, was just a tiny hint of what LWN was to become.</p>
<p>Netscape announces that they will release the source to their browser under a free software license. This almost certainly remains one of the most important events of the year; it opened a lot of eyes to what Linux and free software could provide.</p>
<p>Red Hat Advanced Development Labs (RHAD) is founded. It has since become one of the higher-profile places where people are paid to develop free software and an important component of the GNOME Project. RHAD is able to attract developers like “Rasterman” (although only for a short time) and Federico Mena-Quintero.<br />
February 1998</p>
<p>The Cobalt Qube is announced and immediately becomes a favorite in the trade press due to its high performance, low price and cute form factor. Cobalt’s Linux engineering is done by none other than David Miller, the source of much that is good in the Linux kernel.</p>
<p>The Linux user community wins InfoWorld’s technical support award; Red Hat 5.0 also won their Operating System award. But it was the tech support award that truly opened some eyes; everybody had been saying that Linux had no support. This was the beginning of the end of the “no support” argument.</p>
<p>Eric Raymond and friends come up with the term “open source”. They apply for trademark status and put up the opensource.org web site. Thus begins the formal effort to push Linux for corporate use.<br />
March 1998</p>
<p>Consumer advocate Ralph Nader asks the large PC vendors (Dell, Gateway, Micron, etc.) to offer non-Microsoft systems, including systems with Linux installed.<br />
April 1998</p>
<p>Linux is covered by the US National Public Radio news, marking one of its first appearances in the mainstream, nontechnical press.</p>
<p>O’Reilly holds the “first ever” Free Software Summit, featuring Larry Wall, Brian Behlendorf, Linus Torvalds, Guido van Rossum, Eric Allman, Phil Zimmermann, Eric Raymond and Paul Vixie.<br />
May 1998</p>
<p>The Google search engine pops up. Not only is it one of the best search engines around, but it’s based on Linux and features a Linux-specific search page.</p>
<p>Big databases start to arrive. Support for Linux is announced by Computer Associates for their Ingres system and by Ardent Software for their O2 object database.<br />
June 1998</p>
<p>“Like a lot of products that are free, you get a loyal following even though it’s small. I’ve never had a customer mention Linux to me.”–Bill Gates, PC Week, June 25, 1998</p>
<p>“…these operating systems will not find widespread use in mainstream commercial applications in the next three years, nor will there be broad third-party application support.”–The Gartner Group says there is little hope for free software.</p>
<p>A Datapro study comes out showing that Linux has the highest user satisfaction of any system; it also shows Linux to be the only system other than Microsoft Windows NT that is increasing its market share.</p>
<p>IBM announces that it will distribute and support the Apache web server after working a deal with the Apache team.<br />
July 1998</p>
<p>The desktop wars rage as KDE and GNOME advocates hurl flames at each other. Linus gets in on the act, saying that KDE is okay with him. In this context, KDE 1.0 is released. The first stable release of the K Desktop Environment proves to be popular, despite the complaints from those who do not like the licensing of the Qt library.</p>
<p>Informix quietly releases software for Linux. Meanwhile, Oracle beats Informix to the punch PR-wise and makes a Linux-friendly announcement first, suggesting that they would soon be supporting Linux. Oracle promises to make a trial version available by the end of 1998, a deadline they beat by months. This, seemingly, was one of the acid tests for the potential of long-term success for Linux; a great deal of attention resulted from both Informix’s and Oracle’s announcements.</p>
<p>Informix announces support for Linux effectively moments after Oracle does so. Sybase later announces their support for Linux also.</p>
<p>Linus appears on the cover of Forbes magazine. A lengthy story presents Linux in a highly positive manner and brings the system to the attention of many who had never heard of it before. Linux begins to become a household word.<br />
September 1998</p>
<p>LinuxToday.com is launched by Dave Whitinger and Dwight Johnson. The site, later acquired by Internet.com, arguably becomes the most well-read and visited Linux portal of all time.</p>
<p>Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer admits that they are “worried” about free software and suggests that some of the Windows NT source code may be made available to developers. The same month Microsoft goes on to list Linux as a competitive threat in its annual SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) filing. Speculation abounds that their real purpose is to influence the upcoming antitrust trial.<br />
October 1998</p>
<p>“For the moment, however, the company from Redmond, Washington, seems almost grateful for the rising profile of Linux, seeing it as an easy way of demonstrating that Windows is not a monopoly, ahead of its antitrust trial, scheduled to begin on October 15. That may be short-sighted. In the long run, Linux and other open-source programs could cause Mr. Gates much grief.”–The Economist, October 3, 1998</p>
<p>Intel and Netscape (and two venture capital firms) announce minority investments in Red Hat Software. The money is to be used to build an “enterprise support division” within Red Hat. An unbelievable amount of press is generated by this event, which is seen as a big-business endorsement of Linux.</p>
<p>Corel announces that WordPerfect 8 for Linux will be downloadable for free for “personal use”. They also announce a partnership with Red Hat to supply Linux for the Netwinder.<br />
October 1998</p>
<p>A confidential Microsoft memorandum on Redmond’s strategy against Linux and Open Source software was leaked to Eric S. Raymond. Raymond, with his own added commentary, releases the memorandum to the national press over Halloween Weekend. Because of all of the press surrounding the story, Microsoft was forced to acknowledge the now-infamous Halloween Document’s authenticity. This was the first time the public heard Microsoft admit Linux was becoming stiff competition.<br />
December 1998</p>
<p>A report from IDC says that Linux shipments rose by more than 200% in 1998, and its market share rose by more than 150%. Linux has a 17% market share and a growth rate unmatched by any other system on the market.<br />
January 1999</p>
<p>“Microsoft Corp. will shout it out to the world when Windows 2000 finally ships. Linux creator Linus Torvalds announced the arrival of the next generation of Linux, version 2.2, with a simple note to the Linux-kernel mailing list.”–Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Sm@rt Reseller</p>
<p>Samba 2.0 is released. It contains a reverse-engineered implementation of the Microsoft domain controller protocols, allowing Linux servers to provide complete services to Windows networks.</p>
<p>Hewlett-Packard and Compaq announce plans to offer Linux-based systems. Later, Dell also announces plans to begin selling Linux-installed systems. SGI contents itself with providing information on how to bring up Linux on its systems.</p>
<p>Loki Entertainment Software announces that it will port Civilization: Call to Power to Linux.<br />
February 1999</p>
<p>Linux and BSD users unite for “Windows Refund Day”. They visit Microsoft, hoping to return the unused Windows licenses that they were forced to acquire when they purchased a computer system bundled with the OS.<br />
March 1999</p>
<p>“Like a Russian revolutionary erased from a photograph, he is being written out of history. Stallman is the originator of the Free Software movement and the GNU/Linux operating system. But you wouldn’t know it from reading about LinuxWorld (Expo). Linus Torvalds got all the ink.”–Leander Kahney, Wired magazine, March 1999</p>
<p>The first LinuxWorld Conference and Expo is held in San Jose, California. As the first big commercial “tradeshow” event for Linux, it serves notice to the world that Linux has arrived; 12,000 people are said to have attended.</p>
<p>Linux Magazine debuts, bringing some additional competition to the Linux print business. Later, other magazines rise and fall including Open, Journal of Linux Technology (JOLT) and Maximum Linux.</p>
<p>VA Research buys the Linux.com domain for $1,000,000 and announces plans to turn it into a Linux portal. Microsoft’s rumored bid for the domain is frustrated.<br />
April 1999</p>
<p>“…please imagine what it is like to see an idealistic project stymied and made ineffective because people don’t usually give it the credit for what it has done. If you’re an idealist like me, that can ruin your whole decade.”–Richard Stallman on GNU/Linux</p>
<p>Al Gore’s presidential campaign web site claims to be open source. That claim is gone, but the site still claims: “In the spirit of the Open Source movement, we have established the Gore 2000 Volunteer Source Code Project; www.algore2000.com is an ‘open site’.”</p>
<p>HP announces 24/7 support services for the Caldera, Turbolinux, Red Hat and SuSE distributions. They also release OpenMail for Linux.</p>
<p>The Linux FreeS/WAN Project releases a free IPSec implementation, allowing Linux to function as a VPN gateway using what is now the industry standard.</p>
<p>“But the mere fact that there is now an official SEC document that includes the text of the GPL serves as fairly astonishing proof that the rules of the software business really are being rewritten.”–Andrew Leonard, Salon<br />
May 1999</p>
<p>“Those two little words–open source–have become a magical incantation, like portal in 1998 or push in 1997. Just whisper them and all will be yours: media attention, consumer interest and, of course, venture capital.”–Andrew Leonard, Wired<br />
August 1999</p>
<p>First Intel IA-64 “Merced” silicon. Although Intel had given simulators to several OS vendors, Linux is the only OS to run on the new architecture on its first day. The Register headline: “Merced silicon happens: Linux runs, NT doesn’t”.</p>
<p>SGI announces the 1400L–a Linux-based server system. SGI also announces a partnership with Red Hat and begins contributing to kernel development in a big way.</p>
<p>Red Hat’s initial public offering happens; a last-minute repricing helps to create difficulties for people participating in the community offering. The stock price immediately rises to $50; a value that seems high at the time.</p>
<p>“For the umpteenth time, someone paved paradise, put up a parking lot. For the thousands of Linux coders who’ve built the utopian open-source movement–offering free help to create a free operating system–the IPO of Red Hat Software was a sure sign of Wall Street cutting the ribbon on the new Linux mall.”–The Industry Standard</p>
<p>Motorola jumps into Linux announcements of embedded systems products, support and training services, and a partnership with Lineo.</p>
<p>Sun acquires StarDivision; it announces plans to release StarOffice under the Sun Community Source License and to make a web-enabled version of the office suite.<br />
September 1999</p>
<p>“’Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. in Burlington, New Jersey is spending $1 million or so to buy 1,250 Linux-equipped PCs from Dell, but it won’t pay Red Hat a dime for support’, says Michael Prince, chief information officer. ‘I suppose Red Hat’s business model makes sense to somebody, but it makes no sense to us’, he says.”–Daniel Lyons, Forbes, May 31, 1999. Then in September, Burlington ended up purchasing support from Red Hat.</p>
<p>The first big Linux stock rush happens. Shares in Applix more than double in volume, reaching nearly 27 million shares–three times the 9 million shares that are actually on the market.</p>
<p>SCO trashes Linux in a brochure distributed in Northern Europe: “Linux at this moment can be considered more a plaything for IT students rather than a serious operating system in which to place the functioning, security and future of a business. Because Linux is basically a free-for-all it means that no individual person/company is accountable should anything go wrong, plus there is no way to predict which way Linux will evolve.”</p>
<p>Stock in Red Hat hits $135/share. The price seems unbelievably high at the time.<br />
October 1999</p>
<p>Sun Microsystems announces that it will release the source to Solaris under the Sun Community Source License. The actual release drew criticism: “In a move aimed at Linux, Sun said it will announce Wednesday that it is making the source code for its new Solaris 8 operating system ‘open’. Webster’s has lots of definitions for the word, including ‘not sealed, fastened, or locked’. But when you dig into the details of Sun’s announcement, you’ll find that what it is offering doesn’t come close to meeting the dictionary’s definition, let alone that of the Open Source movement.”–Lawrence Aragon, Redherring.com, January 26, 2000<br />
November 1999</p>
<p>“…if there’s one thing about Linux users, they’re do-ers, not whiners.”–Andy Patrizio,</p>
<p>Red Hat buys Cygnus for almost $700 million in stock. Rumors of other acquisitions by Red Hat begin to circulate and show no signs of stopping.<br />
December 1999</p>
<p>VA Linux Systems goes public after two repricings (originally priced at $11-$13/share). The final IPO price is $30/share; that price rises immediately to $300 before closing around $250. It sets the record for the biggest IPO rise in the history of the NASDAQ.</p>
<p>“Gee. Remember when the big question was ‘How do we make money at this?”’–Eric Raymond”<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9065">linuxjournal.com</a></p>
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