In 1991 Linus Torvalds creates Linux, an offshoot of Unix. An outgrowth of the open source software movement, he developed the operating system specifically for use on personal computers. Based on the GNU kernel developed by programmer Richard Stallman, who advocated making source code freely available, it slowly caught on with Internet Service Providers and other small businesses who were attracted by the low cost and ability to tailor the open code to their needs. Legions of others wrote improvements, fixed bugs and shared information about it over the net. Today Linux is still going strong, especially in high end computing.
This Day In Tech History
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons.
-Popular Mechanics, March 1949More Tech History
Intel and Zilog introduce new processors 5 times faster then their predecessors.
The Scelbi 8h is introduced.
Digital Research is founded to market and develop CP/M.
Telnet is born.
The visual display module (VDM) prototype is designed in 1975 by Lee Felsenstein.
The Altair 8800 is released.
Byte Magazine hits the stands.
Microsoft is founded.
The first digital camera, the Cromemco Cyclops, is introduced as a peripheral to the Altair 8800.
The IMSAI 8080 is released, a direct competitor to the popular Altair.