In 1991, Linus Torvalds made a free Unix-like kernel (a core part of the operating system) available on the Internet and invited all hackers interested to participate. Within the next two months, the first version 1.0 of Linux was released. From that point, tens of thousands of developers, dispersed globally and communicating via the Internet, contributed code, so that early in 1993, Linux had grown to be a stable, reliable and very powerful operating system.
The Linux kernel is 'copylefted' software, patented under the GNU GPL, and thus, nobody actually owns it. But more significantly, Linux is sheltered by the Open Source (hacker) community. From its very birth, Linux as a project has mobilised an incredible number of developers offering enhancements, modifications/improvements and bug fixes without any financial incentive. Despite the fact that an operating system is supposed to be developed only
by a closely-knit team to avoid rising complexity and communication costs of coordination (Brook's Law), Linux is being developed in a massive decentralised mode under no central planning, an amazing feat given that it has not evolved into chaos.
Innovation
release early and often: Linus put into practice an innovative and paradox model of developing software. Frequent releases and updates (several times in a week) are typical throughout the entire development period of Linux. In this way, Linus kept the community constantly stimulated by the rapid growth of the project and provided an extraordinary effective mechanism of psychologically rewarding his co-developers for their contributions that were implemented in the last version. On top of this, in every released version, there is a file attached which lists all those who have contributed (code).
Credit attribution if neglected, is a cardinal sin that will breed bitterness within the community and discourage developers from further contributing to the project.
According to conventional software-building wisdom, early versions are by definition buggy and you do not want to wear out the patience of your users. But as far as the Linux development stage is concerned, developers are the users themselves and this is where most innovation is created (Figure 8). "The greatest innovation of Linux is that treating your users as co-developers is your least-hassle route to rapid code improvement and effective debugging" (Raymond, 1998a).
