Linux
Linus Trovalds
- Linus Trovalds started Linux as a hobbyist project in 1990.
- Trovalds a college student from Finland, began the project after purchasing a computer to run Minix, A Unix like operating system.
- Within two months of starting the project, Linus released kernel 0.01.
- Nearly 3 years after Trovalds started his project, Linux 1.0 was released.
- By this time, many Linux distributors had started packing Linux kernel with basic support programs, the GNU utilities and compilers, the X Window System, and other useful programs.
- The Linux kernel hackers managed to develop all the thing expected from a current Unix system, including preemptive multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, TCP/IP support, NFS (Network File Systems), Ethernet and lots more.
- History of kernel released
Mar-1995 - Linux 1.2.0 was released (310,950 lines).
25-Jan-1999 - Linux 2.2.0 was released (1,800,847 lines).
04-Jan-2001 - Linux 2.4.0 was released (3,377,902 lines).
17-Dec-2003 - Linux 2.6.0 was released (5,929,913 lines).
09-Jun-2009 - Linux 2.6.30 was released (11,637,173 lines)
Note : In July 2009 Microsoft contributed 20,000 lines of code to the Linux kernel. The contribution consisted of Hyper-V drivers, which improve the performance of virtual Linux guest systems in a Windows hosted environment. Microsoft licenced its Linux Hyper-V drivers under the GPL. Microsoft was forced to make the code contribution when Vyatta principal engineer and Linux contributor Stephen Hemminger discovered that Microsoft had incorporated a Hyper-V network driver, with GPL-licenced open source components, statically linked to closed-source binaries in contravention of the GPL licence. Microsoft contributed the drivers to rectify the licence violation, although the company attempted to portray it as a charitable act, rather than one to avoid legal action against it.
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Mozilla
Mozilla was the official, public, original name of Mozilla Application Suite by the Mozilla Foundation, currently known as SeaMonkey suite.
The name has been used in a number of ways and in combination with other phrases, though all of them have been related to the now-defunct Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software.
Naming
The project which became Firefox started as an experimental branch of the Mozilla Suite called m/b (or mozilla/browser). When sufficiently developed, binaries for public testing appeared in September 2002 under the name Phoenix.
The Phoenix name was retained until April 14, 2003 when it was changed (after a short stint as Phoenix Browser) due to trademark issues with the BIOS manufacturer, Phoenix Technologies (who produce a BIOS-based browser called Phoenix FirstWare Connect). The new name, Firebird, was met with mixed reactions, particularly as the Firebird database server already carried the name. In late April, following an apparent name change to Firebird browser for a few hours, the Mozilla Foundation issued an official statement which stated that the browser should be referred to as Mozilla Firebird (as opposed to just Firebird). Continuing pressure from the Firebird community forced another change, and on February 9, 2004 the project was renamed Mozilla Firefox (or Firefox for short).
The name, "Firefox", was chosen for its similarity to "Firebird", but also for its uniqueness in the computing industry. To ensure that no further name changes would be necessary, the Mozilla Foundation began the process of registering Firefox as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in December 2003. This trademark process led to a delay of several months in the release of Firefox 0.8 when the foundation discovered that in the UK Firefox had already been registered as a trademark for software by The Charlton Company.The situation was resolved when the foundation was given a license to use Charlton's European trademark.
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