The cornerstone of unity

HI-TECH 

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86 LINUX
When 21-year-old Linus Torvalds started developing his own unix-based PC operating system, he hardly 
imagined that he would 
challenge the world’s mightiest operating system corporation Microsoft and end up an 
idol of computer enthusiasts around the world. 
The decisive moment for Linux was when Torvalds decided to upload the source code of Linux’s first version 
to the Internet and let anyone download, use and develop it. All that Torvalds asked in return was feedback from 
Linux users. 
He received oceans of it, and soon there was an Internet network of thousands of volunteers working with 
Linux in over 90 countries. However, without Linus Torvalds, the network would have lacked a direction and goal. 
Linux’s greatest innovation of is not therefore technical but social. What at first might appear as an anarchic 
and volunteer-based Linux community has been able to create an efficient and innovative organisation whose 
members are uniquely motivated and committed to develop and maintain Linux. 
The Linux community is a fine example of new network organisations being enabled by communication 
technology. The vast majority of those who have participated in developing Linux have never met each other 
– 
except through the Internet. 
Linux is the most famous open source programme in the world. Open source programmes have to comply with 
the criteria established by the Open Source Initiative, the main principle being that everyone must have free access 
to both the programme and its source code. Everyone is entitled to modify the programme as they wish, providing 
that the modified source code is also freely accessible, and that it can be further modified. 
This is in stark contrast to commercial software development, where source codes have traditionally been 
jealously guarded business secrets, which means that they cannot be exploited elsewhere and that users cannot 
evaluate the quality of their programmes. In widely used open source programmes like Linux, every single row of 
the source code is analysed by a mass of people. Testing is much more profound than commercial programmes’ 
quality control, and Linux is consequently known for its reliability and 
speed. The People’s Army of China, for 
instance, decided to use Linux mainly because they can check for themselves what their computers’ operating 
system is doing. 
Linux and other open source programmes have become especially popular in developing countries, where 
people cannot afford to pay for licences for commercial programmes, and because Linux functions in old 
computers which are still used in developing countries. If a particular function is missing, local people can always 
programme it by themselves. 
Although Linux itself is freeware, it has also generated business and commercial services. For example, ibm, 
Sun and Novel use it in their servers and have invested millions in developing Linux, and many “embedded 
systems” like mobile phones and video recorders also use it. In addition, 70% of the world’s 500 fastest 
computers use Linux as their operating system. 
Linux is however still used relatively rarely in personal computers, mainly because its installation has required 
considerable computing skills. Even though distribution packages have been developed to facilitate installation, it 
is still quite complicated. 
Linux and other open source programmes have recently also become a political issue, as public authorities’ 
data systems have been criticised f
or becoming too dependent on software company’s products. The result is 
likely to be a stalemate: open source programmes will be more frequently used, but at the same time 
commercial software companies will improve the compatibility of their own products 
– even with open source 
programmes. 

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Jyrki J. J. Kasvi 
– Techn. D. Member of Parliament 2003–2011