Linux (commonly pronounced IPA: /ÃÂlênÃÂks/ http://pccrdu.com/services/linuxsupport.php in English; variants exist) is a generic word commonly devoted to refer to Unix-like mainframe operating systems which capitalization the Linux kernel. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development; typically all the underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.
Historically, Linux has mainly been used as a server operating system, and has risen to prominence in that area; Netcraft reported in September 2006 that eight of the ten most reliable internet hosting companies ran Linux on their fiber servers. (As of June 2008, linux represented five of ten, FreeBSD three of ten, and Microsoft two of ten.) This is due to its relative stability and long uptime, and the appearance that desktop software with a graphical user interface for servers is often unneeded. Enterprise and non-enterprise Linux distributions may be found running on servers. Linux is the cornerstone of the LAMP server-software combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) which deadbeat achieved popularity among developers, and which is separate of the more bourgeois platforms for website hosting.
