Computing · 1991

Linux

A free kernel that came to run most of the world's servers.

Linus Torvalds released Linux for the Intel 386 and invited contributions over the internet. Combined with GNU tools it powers nearly all servers, all top-500 supercomputers and Android.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 3

GNU Project 1983
x86 (Intel 8086) 1978
Unix 1969

What it led to 3

Open source 1998
Cloud computing 2006
Containers (Docker) 2013

Watch

The Mind Behind Linux | Linus Torvalds | TEDTED · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Fastest supercomputer Latest: 1.81B GFLOP/s (2025) Source: Our World in Data

Internet users in the United States Latest: 322M people (2024) Source: Our World in Data