Linus Torvalds is the creator of Linux, which in simplest terms is an operating system. The definition of Linux is, it is the software on a computer that enables applications and the computer operator to access the devices on the computer to perform desired functions. Linux is used by all different kinds of people such as: people who have personal problems with Microsoft, people who want to experiment with operating system principles, and people who need or want a great deal of control over their operating system. Linux is very different from Windows and MAC operating systems, but the biggest difference is that Linux is open-source. Open-source means that anyone in the world can look through the source code of Linux and any other part of the distribution and find any bugs, security holes, or any other problems within the source code. There are a lot more advantages of Linux, another advantage of Linux is that it is easy to install. Another advantage is that it is less vulnerable to computer malware. There are also a lot of disadvantages of Linux. One disadvantage of Linux is that many windows programs will not run in Linux. A second disadvantage of Linux is that there is a smaller selection of peripheral hardware drivers. Linux was created in 1991, Linus Torvalds is a Finnish American software engineer, who was born in Helsinki, Finland. Linus now lives in Portland, Oregon where he is the project coordinator for the Linux Kernel. Linus Torvalds graduated from The University of Helsinki with a master's degree in Computer Science. After his first year of studying, his academic career was put on hold when he joined the Finnish Army to fulfill the mandatory military service in Finland. He has been a programmer since the late 1980's. Forbes magazine holds Linus Torvalds to a very high esteem because he is one of the greatest programmers ever. I don't think any one person is "The Greatest", I think there are too many people to name that could also be "The Greatest". Therefore, I don't think that Linus Torvalds is the greatest programmer ever. Other possible candidates for "The Greatest" are: Dennis Ritchie the creator of the c programming language, Bjarne Stroustrup the creator of c++, and Tim Berners-Lee the creator of HTML and World Wide Web inventor.
http://www.linux.com/learn/new-user-guides/376-linux-is-everywhere-an-overview-of-the-linux-operating-system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds
http://www.linux.org/threads/what-is-linux.4076/
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question246.htm
http://www.renewablepcs.com/about-linux/advantages-of-using-linux
