Below you will find a timeline of important events history of the development of the Linux operating system. To get an idea for who the major figures in the Linux community, you can consult our who's who page with more information on the people involved in the development of Linux.

2007
June	Linux distributors Xandros and Linspire sign patent agreements with Microsoft similar to the pact previously signed between Novell and Microsoft. Ubuntu Linux maintainer Mark Shuttleworth and Mandriva CEO François Bancilhon publicly rule out making such agreements. It is also revealed that Red Hat had been negotiating a pact with Microsoft though finally no agreement was reached.
May	Dell announces that it will pre-load Ubuntu Linux on selected desktop and laptop models of their computers. Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith states in a Fortune magazine interview that his company believes that Linux and related projects infringe on over 230 Microsoft patents. There are fears that a patent war between Microsoft and the Free Software/Open Source developers. might break out.
2006
November	Novell and Microsoft sign a controversial agreement in which Novell agrees to work on SUSE Linux/Windows interoperability while Microsoft pledges not to sue Novell's customers for possible patent infringement. The agreement is poorly received by the Linux-user community. It also prompts a re-write of the upcoming version 3 of the GNU General Public License in order to insert clauses to prohibit distribution of GPL software under such patent agreements.
May	Nicolas Negroponte displays the first working prototype of a $100 laptop computer running Linux and designed for children in the third world. Bill Gates ridicules the project.
April	Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announces that the company may develop their own Linux distribution. "...it makes a lot of sense for us to look at distributing and supporting Linux.", states Ellison.
January	Linus Torvalds reveals that he doesn't like the anti-DRM provisions in the draft for version 3 of the GNU General Public License and as it stands, he won't convert the Linux kernel to it.
2005
December	In strongly worded emails to the GNOME mailing list, Linus Torvalds reveals that he prefers KDE to GNOME, starting a small controversy. "Gnome seems to be developed by interface nazis...", claims Torvalds.
April	Larry McVoy, creator of BitKeeper, discontinues support for the free BitKeeper client after complaining about attempts to reverse engineer it. Linus Torvalds announces that he will no longer use BitKeeper for kernel development. Torvalds starts work on a replacement he calls Git.
2004
October	During the Superbowl, IBM runs a commercial promoting Linux featuring Muhammed Ali and other celebrities
October	First version of Ubuntu Linux released.
July	Microsoft settles its trademark dispute with Lindows. Lindows changes its name to Linspire and assigns Microsoft the rights to the Lindows name. Microsoft pays $20 million and grants Linspire licenses to use certain Windows media libraries.
2003
December	Linux kernel version 2.6 is released.
November	Novell acquires German Linux distributor SuSE.
August	Novell buys Linux desktop software company Ximian.
July	Red Hat announces that they will no longer sell boxed sets of their Linux distribution for retail customers. Instead, they will distribute Linux to end users via a development distribution called Fedora Core.
June	La Junta de Extremadura (Spain) announces that 80,000 computers in their schools are running a distribution called GNU/LinEx. Linus Torvalds announces that he's leaving Transmeta to work full time on the kernel for the Open Source Development Labs. The Torvalds family moves to Oregon.
May	The city of Munich, Germany announces that it's switching 14,000 PCs from Windows to Linux.
January	Maureen O'Gara of LinuxGram posts a story that SCO is planning on suing Linux vendors for using proprietary Unix intellectual property. The SCO Controversy begins.(see separate SCO timeline)
2002
August	Caldera announces that they are changing their name to The SCO Group and are going to concentrate on Unix development Free office suite OpenOffice.org 1.0 is released. Shares of VA Linux stock reach an history low $0.64 US. Having been the highest climber in IPO history, VA Linux becomes the poster child for the dot-com bust.
July	Walmart begins selling Microtel PCs through their online store with Lindows and Mandrake Linux pre-installed Version 1.0 of the free sound codec Ogg Vorbis is released.
June	Ransom Love is ousted as CEO of Caldera and is replaced by Darl McBride.
May	Linux distributors Caldera, SuSE, Turbolinux and Conectiva sign an agreement to form UnitedLinux and jointly develop a Linux distribution for servers.
February	Linus Torvalds begins using BitMover's BitKeeper to manage kernel development. Bitkeeper is proprietary software and many, including Richard Stallman, criticize the decision.
January	Credit Suisse First Boston fined $100 million for fraud in connection with the VA Linux IPO.
2001
November	Microsoft files a trademark infringement suit against Lindows, claiming the similarity to the name Windows "confuses the public".
November	18 year-old Brazilian developer Marcelo Tosatti becomes the maintainer of the 2.4 kernel
October	Amazon.com reveals in a SEC filing that switching to Linux has saved them over $20 million.
August	MP3.com founder Michael Robertson starts development on Lindows, a Debian-based distribution which promises to be a Linux distribution that can be used by anybody.
May	Linus Torvalds publishes his autobiography entitled Just for Fun with the help of journalist David Diamond.
January	Linux kernel version 2.4 released. Corel announces that it is selling its Linux unit.
2000
October	IBM CEO Louis Gerstner announces that the company will invest $1 billion in Linux development.
October	Microsoft buys a large stake in Corel.
September	Trolltech releases the QT libraries, used by KDE, under the GPL.
August	Caldera Systems acquires the Santa Cruz Operation's (SCO) Unix server division.
May	Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer calls Linux "a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches." in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
March	A Netcraft survey reveals that Apache webserver powers 60% of the World Wide Web. Linux distributor Caldera Systems Inc has its initial public offering (IPO).
1999
November	Matthew Szulik replaces Bob Young as CEO of Red Hat. Corel releases Linux distribution.
October	VA Linux systems stock reaches $320 US after starting its initial public offering (IPO) at $30. Ending the day at $239.25, it is the largest first-day gain in history to date.
August	Red Hat has its initial public offering (IPO) and becomes a publicly traded company.
May	Dell pre-installs Red Hat Linux on some servers and workstations.
March	GNOME 1.0 desktop released.
March	The Burlington Coat Factory announces that it is using Linux in its stores.
January	Linux kernel version 2.2 released.
1998
December	Corel releases Word Perfect 8 for Linux as a free download.
November	Eric S. Raymond releases internal Microsoft memos, known as the "Halloween Documents", that show that the company is formulating plans to deal with the increasing use of Linux.
August	Forbes magazine devotes its cover story to Linus Torvalds.
July	Version 1.0 of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) released. Gael Duval creates Mandrake Linux.
July	Sam Ockman founds Penguin Computing. It is the first hardware company to produce Linux-only systems.
May	Google search engine appears using servers running Linux.
February	Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond found the Open Source Initiative, an organization to promote the use of open source software and establish guidelines for open source licenses.
1997
August	The Linux trademark dispute between William Della Croce and Linus Torvalds is settled, with Della Croce re-assigning the trademark to Torvalds. Miguel de Icaza starts the GNOME project.
May	Eric S. Raymond gives a paper entitled The Cathedral and the Bazaar at Linux Kongress. It outlines the principles of what would become known as the "open source" method.
February	Linus Torvalds moves to California and begins working for Transmeta, a microprocessor manufacturer.
1996
October	Kool Desktop Environment (KDE) project announced.
September	Linus Torvalds along with Linux Journal, Yggdrasil Computing, Inc., Linux International Work Group Solutions and with the help of Digital Equipment Corporation and Red Hat, file suit against William R. Della Croce, Jr. to re-assign the Linux trademark to Linus Torvalds. The firm of Davis & Schroeder handles the case on an almost pro-bono basis.
May	Linus Torvalds suggests that a "slightly overweight penguin" would be the best mascot for Linux. He recommends Larry Ewing's "Tux" penguin images.
March	Linux kernel version 2.0 released.
1995
March	Bob Young partners with Marc Ewing and forms Red Hat Software. Apache web server project started as a series of patches to the NCSA HTTPd server (a patchy server).
1994
October	Marc Ewing releases the first version of Red Hat Linux. Linux distributor Caldera founded by Ray Noorda of Novell and Ransom Love.
September	William R. Della Croce, Jr. of Boston, Massachusetts registers the Linux trademark. He begins, shortly thereafter, to ask for compensation for the use of the word Linux.
June	Jon 'maddog' Hall founds Linux International Rasmus Lerdorf releases the first version of the PHP scripting language.
May	Michael McLagan registers the linux.org domain.
April	Version 1.0 of SuSE Linux released. It is based on SLS.
March	Linux kernel version 1.0 released. First issue of Linux Journal published
1993
August	Ian Murdock creates the Debian distribution.
August	Version 1.0 of Slackware released by Patrick Volkerding. It is based on the SLS distribution.
March	Matt Welsh issues the Linux Documentation Project Manifesto. He states that the goal of the LDP is to "collaborate in taking care of all of the issues of Linux documentation".
1992
November	Software und System Entwicklung GmbH (SuSE) founded in Nuremberg, Germany. Distributes a German version of SLS with corresponding manuals.
September	A Linux distribution called Softlanding Linux System (SLS) is released. Early users include Patrick Volkerding and Ian Murdock.
March	Version 0.95 of the Linux kernel released. First version to be able to support X-Window.
February	What could be described as the first Linux "distribution", called MCC Interim Linux is released by the University of Manchester, England.
January	alt.os.linux newsgroup created. Minix creator Andrew Tannenbaum claims "Linux is obsolete" in a posting to comp.os.minix and starts a public discussion on the merits of Linux in which Linus Torvalds participates.
1991
October	Richard Stallman expresses interest in having the Free Software Foundation distribute a GNU system with the Linux kernel.
1991
December	Robert Blum posts the first Linux FAQ
September	Version 0.01 of Torvald's project is made available via ftp.funet.fi. Ari Lemmke, the systems administrator, gives the directory the name Linux.
August	Linus Torvalds announces that he's working on an operating system similar to Minix.
June	Version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPL) is released.
1989
February	Version 1 of the GNU General Public License (GPL) is released.
1987
December	Larry Wall releases version 1.0 of Perl
January	Computer science professor Andrew Tannenbaum publishes the textbook Operating Systems: Design and Implementation which includes a copy of a teaching version of Unix called Minix.
1985
October	Free Software Foundation established as a non-profit organization to promote the development of Free Software. Sponsors the GNU Project.
1984
January	Work begins on the GNU operating system
1983
September	Richard M. Stallman announces the GNU Project, an attempt at creating a completely free operating system.