Linus Torvalds has been called many names, but the one that stands out to me is "Father of Computers". This is a nickname anyone would love to have. Linus was born in Helsinki, Finland when he was only 10 years old he started programming his grandfathers computer. He late went on to get his master's degree in computer science. He earned his degree at the University of Helsinki, at that point they were using UNIX at that point. Torvalds wanted to get rid of the bulky, expensive, and impractical for its users. He ended up creating a new kernel and Linux OS. Linus is an operating system, the operating system relays instructions from an application to the processor per say. Basically Linus replaces the early form which was UNIX at the point in time. Linus was first came out on October 5th, 1991, this became an instant hit throughout the world, everyone today uses the Linux kernel, it is the kernel that has never really been replaced. Linus is used by the government, businesses, educational organizations, and people at home. Some differences between Linux and Windows/Mac are that with Linux you have access to your kernel the very piece of hardware that runs your OS. Also the licensing is rather different as well, with Linux you are able to change the operating system around and even resell it for a profit! Windows and Mac are not very flexible when it comes to what you want in an operating system. With Linux you can change things around and make it the way that you would like, whether its commands or even the way that you want your OS to work, Linux is very "loose" with its guidelines and rules unlike Windows and Mac. Linux is a very unused OS for its capabilities, Windows and Mac have flooded out Linux in a way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
http://www.nndb.com/people/444/000022378/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_adopters
