By Ryan Paul

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the open source Linux kernel, a milestone that is being celebrated this week at LinuxCon in Vancouver. During the opening keynote presentations at the event, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin and Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst took a look back at the success of Linux and its prospects for the future.

Zemlin began his keynote by asking the audience to imagine a world without Linux. The kernel powers stock exchanges, nuclear submarines, consumer electronics devices, and many other systems. Although alternative software could be used in its place, Linux's unique blend of pragmatic leadership, copyleft licensing, and community-driven development have made it a defining force in the software industry.


Zemlin emphasized the important role that the copyleft licensing and underlying philosophical values behind the open source movement have played in advancing Linux. Although corporate adoption has been vital to the kernel's long-term success and enabling the technical sophistication that it enjoys today, he argued that the freedoms that Linux represents have been a powerful sustaining force, ensuring that technical improvements are accessible to everyone.

"Companies come and go. Products come and go. But one thing endures: freedom," Zemlin said. "[Freedom is] important for the last 20 years, and important for the next 100 years."

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