How Linux Took Over The World (Without Anyone Noticing)
How-To Geek, Saturday, March 22nd, 2025
If you're reading this, you're likely using Linux-whether you realize it or not. The website you visited? Hosted on a Linux server. Your Android phone? Powered by the Linux kernel. Even in-flight entertainment systems and everyday devices like smart TVs and Wi-Fi routers run on Linux.
Despite its omnipresence, many are unaware of how much they rely on an operating system that started as a hobby project in 1991. Unlike Windows or macOS, Linux has quietly become the backbone of modern tech. Its open-source, flexible, and reliable nature, combined with the power of the global open-source community, is what allowed it to change technology without fanfare.
Linux started as a personal project by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer science student who wanted a free operating system he could modify and improve. At the time, UNIX-based systems were powerful but expensive and restrictive, typically accessible only to large institutions with deep pockets. UNIX, developed in the 1970s, was the foundation for many academic and enterprise systems but was proprietary and costly.