The GNU Project, started in 1984 by Richard Stallman, had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system" prepared entirely of free software. The next year Stallman assumed the Free Software Foundation and wrote the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, countless of the programs essential in an operating logical order (such as libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell, and a windowing system) were completed, although low-level phonemes such as device drivers, daemons, and the kernel were stalled and incomplete. Linus Torvalds disappointment said that if the GNU kernel had been convenient at the bout (1991), he would not have decided to write his own.

The frictional cost of Linux Consulting switching operating systems and lack of support for questionless hardware and application programs studied for Microsoft Windows have been two factors that have inhibited adoption. Proponents and analysts attribute the relative success of Linux to its security, reliability, bottommost cost, and freedom from vendor lock-in.