Some of you may have heard of Linux, but if you haven't, you are not alone. More likely, you've heard of Windows or Apple. Computers running the Windows operating system are still used extensively in businesses and offices. Apple machines are found everywhere in graphic design and education. So it may surprise you to learn that Linux is very likely the most used computer operating system in the world. If so, you may wonder what Linux is, who is using it, and how it has managed to hide from you all this time.

What is Linux?

Linux is a free computer operating system authored by a community of open-source developers. "Free", "community", and "open-source" should easily qualify Linux as a different paradigm in computing.

Whereas both Apple and Windows operating systems are exclusive big corporation productions, Linux is an international collaberative effort involving scientists, researchers, software developers, educational and governmental institutions and businesses the world over. In fact, anyone able is welcome to help out.

Who uses Linux?

497 of the top 500 fastest computers in the world run Linux.
New York and London Stock Exchanges
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States for Advanced Traffic Control.
NASA, including space robots and the International Space Station, and jet propulsion laboratory
CERN, including the Large Hadron Collider
Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Amazon
More than 70% of Internet Hosting and service providers are Linux based
The US Postal Service
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Navy Submarine Fleet
U.S. Federal Courts
Various handheld devices such as Amazon's Kindle and numerous smart watches

Is that enough for starters? At least you can see you're in pretty august company. No worries there, though you still may wonder why with such grand names in the Linux world you haven't seen more Linux around.

Keep in mind both Google's Chromebook and its Android OS which is used on up to 80% of smartphones world-wide are built on Linux, so if you own an Android smartphone or a Chromebook laptop you have been using Linux all along. Being a community driven endeavor leaves Linux with seemingly endless customization possibilities, making "roll your own" custom builds the rule. Google, Amazon, and the stock exchanges have all built Linux systems minutely fine tuned to their unique needs. This obviously requires a certain degree of knowledge and skill.

But that has all been taken care of for you. Your Lenovo laptop is powered by a flavor of Linux called Debian, the same Debian that powers the International Space Station. In your case the power of Linux isn't being harnessed to orbit the earth but has been customized and fine tuned to revitalize aging computers. Even if your computer no longer looks that cool anymore, it's definitely running a very cool operating system!