Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. It is developed and distributed on the open source model: all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.

Linux is commonly used in servers. It is supported by corporations such as Red Hat, Novell, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. A special use of Linux has been in cluster computing, used in scientific research.

I started using Linux in 2001, my first distro was Red Hat 7.0, which I got with the book Sam's Red Hat 7.0 Unleashed. It wasn't easy to use. I sometimes had to spend hours with that book and documentation to get simple things done. I then moved to Red Hat 7.2, mandrake 8.0, Mandrake 8.1, Red Hat 9.0. I tried Knoppix for a while, and then did not use linux for a year, before I discovered Open SuSE, with Novell making SuSE 9.3 Professional free to use. There's been no turning back since. Desktop Linux has come a long way; it's a lot easier to use now.