[wordup] The History of Linux

[Adam Shand]

This is actually pretty cool.  It's missing a few thigns that I would
consider pretty important like the foundation of GNU, the Halloweeen
documents, the Cathedral and the Bizarre article and Netscape's decision
to Open Source Mozilla.

Adam.

From: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6000

Linux Timeline
Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 by LWN and LJ Staff Printer Friendly
Page  Send this Article to a Friend

Linux Journal 100 of the most significant events in Linux history.

As part of our 100th issue celebration, we present 100 of the most
significant events in Linux history. As shown in the timeline, the first
issue of Linux Journal coincided with the release of Linux 1.0. Ever
since, the fortunes of our magazine have followed those of Linux at large.

It's been a wild eight years, filled with a variety of exciting events.
Choosing only 100 was a difficult task, and certainly some readers will be
quick to point out events they would have chosen that we did not, but the
following manages to maintain the roller-coaster ride that is Linux
history.

We would like to recognize our indebtedness to Rebecca Sobol and Jonathan
Corbet at Linux Weekly News, for allowing us to borrow heavily from the
timeline featured on their site and for their accurate and gracious
historical editing.

August 1991

``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 :-) 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 :-(.''

September 1991

Linux version 0.01 is released and put on the Net.

April 1992

The first Linux newsgroup, comp.os.linux, is proposed and started by Ari
Lemmke.

October 1992

Peter MacDonald announces SLS, the first standalone Linux install. At
least 10MB of space on disk was recommended.

June 1993

Slackware, by Patrick Volkerding, becomes the first commercial standalone
distribution and quickly becomes popular within the Linux community.

August 1993

Matt Welsh's Linux Installation and Getting Started, version 1 is
released. This is the first book on Linux.

March 1994

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.

Linux 1.0 is released.

June 1994

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.

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.

August 1994

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.

September 1994

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.'''

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.

December 1994

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.

April 1995

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.

January 1997

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.

``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

January 1998

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.

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.

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.

February 1998

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.

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.

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.

March 1998

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader asks the large PC vendors (Dell, Gateway,
Micron, etc.) to offer non-Microsoft systems, including systems with Linux
installed.

April 1998

Linux is covered by the US National Public Radio news, marking one of its
first appearances in the mainstream, nontechnical press.

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.

May 1998

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.

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.

June 1998

``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

``...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.

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.

IBM announces that it will distribute and support the Apache web server
after working a deal with the Apache team.

July 1998

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.

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.

Informix announces support for Linux effectively moments after Oracle does
so. Sybase later announces their support for Linux also.

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.

September 1998

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.

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.

October 1998

``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

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.

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.

December 1998

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.

January 1999

``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 at rt Reseller

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.

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.

Loki Entertainment Software announces that it will port Civilization: Call
to Power to Linux.

February 1999

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.

March 1999

``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

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.

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.

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.

April 1999

``...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

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'."

HP announces 24/7 support services for the Caldera, Turbolinux, Red Hat
and SuSE distributions. They also release OpenMail for Linux.

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.

``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

May 1999

``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

August 1999

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''.

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.

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.

``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

Motorola jumps into Linux announcements of embedded systems products,
support and training services, and a partnership with Lineo.

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.

September 1999

``?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.

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.

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.''

Stock in Red Hat hits $135/share. The price seems unbelievably high at the
time.

October 1999

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

November 1999

``...if there's one thing about Linux users, they're do-ers, not
whiners.''--Andy Patrizio,

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.

December 1999

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.

``Gee. Remember when the big question was ?How do we make money at
this?'''--Eric Raymond

January 2000

VA Linux Systems announces SourceForge (although the site had actually
been up and running since November 1999). SourceForge also makes the code
for its operation available under the GPL. By the end of the year,
SourceForge hosted over 12,000 projects and 92,000 registered developers.

Version 1.0 of Red Flag Linux is released in the People's Republic of
China.

Transmeta breaks its long silence and tells the world what it has been up
to--the Crusoe chip, of course.

The Linux Professional Institute announces the availability of its first
Linux professional certification exam.

Linux wannabe press releases flow from companies trying to ride on the
success of Linux stocks. Vitamins.com, for example, posts the following:
``Vitamins.com has further distinguished itself in the competitive
Internet health industry race by being one of the first to integrate the
Linux Operating System, produced by Red Hat, the leading developer and
provider of open-source software solutions.''

February 2000

The latest IDC report suggests that Linux now ranks as the
``second-most-popular operating system for server computers'', with 25% of
the server operating system sales in 1999. Windows NT is first with 38%
and NetWare ranks third with 19%. IDC previously predicted that Linux
would get up to the number two position--in 2002 or 2003. The revolution
appears to be well ahead of schedule.

VA Linux Systems acquisition of Andover.net in a high-profile purchase
that values Andover shares at 0.425 of VA's, or roughly $50/share.
Andover.net is the owner of the popular web sites Slashdot.org and
Freshmeat.net.

LinuxMall.com and Frank Kaspar and Associates also have made plans to
merge. LinuxMall.com has been at the top of the retail side of Linux
almost since the very beginning; Kaspar is one of the largest distribution
channels.

Red Hat wins InfoWorld's ``Product of the Year'' award for the fourth time
in a row.

March 2000

``The law in open code means that no actor can gain ultimate control over
open-source code. Even the kings can't get ultimate control over the code.
For example, if Linus Torvalds, father of the Linux kernel, tried to steer
GNU/Linux in a way that others in the community rejected, then others in
the community could always have removed the offending part and gone in a
different way. This threat constrains the kings; they can only lead where
they know the people will follow.''--``Innovation, Regulation, and the
Internet'' by Lawrence Lessig for The American Prospect.

A new version of LILO is posted that is able to get past the 1024-cylinder
boot limit that has plagued PC systems for years.

The latest Netcraft survey shows Apache running on just over 60% of the
Web.

Caldera Systems goes public after a short delay, on March 21. The stock,
which was offered at $14/share, began trading at $26 and closed at $29.44.
It thus registered a 110% gain on its first day.

``Caldera knows of no company that has built a profitable business based
in whole or in part on open-source software.''--Caldera SEC filing

Walnut Creek (the parent company for Slackware) and BSDi announce their
merger. Yahoo! will be taking an equity investment in the new company.

Motorola Computer Group announces the release of its HA Linux
distribution. This distribution is aimed at telecommunications
applications that require very high amounts of uptime; it includes
hot-swap capability and is available for the i386 and PowerPC
architectures.

The Embedded Linux Consortium is announced. Its goal is ``to amplify the
depth, breadth and speed of Linux adoption in the enormous embedded
computer market''. The initial leader will be Rick Lehrbaum, the man
behind the LinuxDevices.com and DesktopLinux.com web sites, among other
things.

Ericsson announces its ``Screen Phone HS210'' product--a Linux-based
telephone with a touchscreen that can be used for e-mail, web browsing,
etc. Ericsson and Opera Software also announce that Ericsson's
(Linux-based) HS210 Screen Phone will incorporate the Opera web browser.

April 2000

Code is ruled to be speech. On April 4, 2000, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit published its decision regarding Peter
Junger's challenge to the Export Administration Regulations that prevented
him from posting information on the Internet that contained cryptographic
example code. Most critical in the ruling: ``Because computer source code
is an expressive means for the exchange of information and ideas about
computer programming, we hold that it is protected by the First
Amendment.''

Andy Tanenbaum releases the the Minix operating system under the BSD
license. Had Minix been open source from the beginning, Linux may never
have happened.

May 2000

SuSE releases the first supported Linux distribution for the IBM S/390
mainframe.

``Approximately 140 distribution companies exist across the globe. We
believe all but the top five will be bought, will go out of business or
will be relegated to insignificance. Market-share leaders are currently
defined around geographic boundaries. Red Hat has the largest global brand
recognition and leading North American market share; SuSE leads in Europe,
Turbolinux leads in Asia, and Conectiva leads in South America.''--Keith
Bachman, an analyst for WR Hambrecht, predicting in The Red Herring

June 2000

Commercial considerations help prompt the relicensing of MySQL under the
GPL. Now the two freely available databases that are widely used in the
Linux and Free Software communities, PostgreSQL and MySQL, meet the Debian
Free Software Guidelines and the Open Source Guidelines. In addition,
Progress Software forms a new company, NuSphere, just for the purpose of
supporting MySQL.

July 2000

``In a world of NDA-bound business agreements, Debian is an open book. In
a world of mission statements, Debian has a social contract. At a time
when commercial distributors are striving to see how much proprietary
software they can pack into a box of Linux, Debian remains the bastion of
software freedom--living proof that you can have a fully functional and
usable operating system without needing any proprietary code.''--Evan
Leibovitch, ZDNet

Sun announces that StarOffice is to be released under the GPL. The code is
going to be reworked, integrated with Bonobo and GTK, and released as a
set of reusable components. StarOffice will also be reworked to use a set
of open XML-based file formats.

Oracle's Linux-based internet appliance system hits the shelves. The ``New
Internet Computer'' (NIC) is the latest result of Larry Ellison's long
personal crusade to make non-Microsoft systems available to the world.
It's aimed at people who only want access to the Net; as such, it's
essentially a $199 (without monitor) X terminal.

Reports first appear that SCO may be purchased by Caldera. Later in 2000
Caldera and SCO announce their intent for Caldera International to be
formed from Caldera's existing operation and two of SCO's three divisions.

Ted Ts'o steps forward to become the new 2.4 status list maintainer. Alan
Cox was doing the job until he said that it was time to ``find someone
else to maintain it''. Ted Ts'o responded to Linus' subsequent call for a
new status list maintainer.

August 2000

HP, Intel, IBM and NEC announce the ``Open Source Development Lab'', which
makes large hardware available to Linux developers for benchmarking and
testing.

September 2000

``I'm a bastard. I have absolutely no clue why people can ever think
otherwise. Yet they do. People think I'm a nice guy, and the fact is that
I'm a scheming, conniving bastard who doesn't care for any hurt feelings
or lost hours of work if it just results in what I consider to be a better
system.''--Linus Torvalds trying to change his image.

The RSA patent expires, allowing for secure web transactions without
proprietary software.

Trolltech releases the Qt library under the GPL, putting a definitive end
to a long-running and unpleasant license flame war.

The CueCat fiasco begins. Digital Convergence attempts to shut down
programmers who have written Linux drivers for its CueCat bar code
scanner. The company has given out large numbers of these scanners for
free, expecting people to use them with its proprietary software and web
site. The threats cause the drivers to become marginally harder to find
for a short period, after which the company declares victory and moves on.

October 2000

Microsoft says that penguins can mutate in a European print ad that
quickly becomes famous.

December 2000

``I was dumbfounded to discover that installing Linux was easy. Why? Well,
the world has changed. No more do you have to understand everything about
Linux before you install it, downloading the many chunks of code necessary
to run a complete system and getting them all to work together. That was
BSW--before shrink-wrap. With companies such as Red Hat and Corel putting
all the software you need in a box, the pain is (nearly) gone.''--John
Schwartz, Washington Post

IBM announces plans to invest $1 billion in Linux in 2001.

January 2001

The long-awaited 2.4.0 kernel was released on January 4.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) releases SELinux under the GPL.
SELinux offers an additional layer of security checks in addition to the
standard UNIX-like permissions system.

March 2001

The Linux 2.5 kernel summit is held in San Jose, California; it is,
perhaps, the most complete gathering of Linux kernel hackers in history.

April 2001

IBM gets into trouble over its ``Peace, Love and Linux'' graffiti in
several cities.

``Slackware has always made money (who else producing a commercial
distribution can say that?), but with BSDi we ended up strapped to a
sinking ship.''--Patrick Volkerding

May 2001

Sony's PlayStation Linux kit, shipped in Japan, sells out in eight minutes
despite a doubling of the available stock.

June 2001

Sharp announces its upcoming Linux PDA based on Lineo's Embedix system.

VA Linux Systems exits the hardware business, choosing to focus on
SourceForge instead. Later VA drops the word ``Linux'' from its name
altogether, relaunching as VA Software Corporation.

``In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon, VA Linux CEO Larry M.
Augustin called the shift in strategy a logical move. ?Our differentiating
strength has always been our software expertise', Augustin said''.--Wired.
You only thought VA was a hardware company.

July 2001

Free Dmitry! Dmitry Sklyarov is arrested in Las Vegas after Adobe
complains about the Advanced eBook Processor. The following month he is
charged with DMCA violations and conspiracy: the potential penalties add
up to 25 years in prison. Dmitry's defense is based on constitutional
challenges to the DMCA, on free speech and jurisdictional issues. Later in
the year, charges are dropped, conditional on one year of good behavior
and testimony in the ElcomSoft trial.

``Although Adobe withdrew its support for the criminal complaint against
Dmitry Sklyarov, we respect the grand jury and federal government's
decision to prosecute the company, ElcomSoft, and as a law-abiding
corporate citizen, Adobe intends to cooperate fully with the government as
required by law.''--Adobe's position

November 2001

Sharp Electronics Corporation begins a special Linux developer prerelease
of the Zaurus PDA to attract free software developers to the hot new
platform.

February 2002

Avaya, the former PBX and enterprise systems division of Lucent, announces
Linux-based PBX systems.

``So there are some--and I'd list myself among them--who believe that the
return to Earth is a good thing. There's nothing wrong with making a buck,
but Linux doesn't benefit from being elevated beyond reality on a shaky
foundation.''--Evan Leibovitch takes a look at the post-rush world of
Linux.