Noteworthy: Would The Internet Exist Without Linux?

Would The Internet Exist Without Linux?

The internet as we know it today predominantly runs on Linux. There's an extremely high probability that the internet connection you're using right now is connected thru a Linux server - and routed thru many other Linux servers along the way.

Below is a graph showing the market share for top servers across all domains from August 1995 to September 2008 - from news.netcraft.com.

You'll notice that Apache has a huge lead over anything else out there. The only other type that comes anywhere near it is Microsoft.

While it's true the HTTP server from Apache has a Windows version, the one used the most without any hint of doubt is the *nix release.

Why was it that Linux (and Unix) paved the way for the modern internet and not something else?

Two reasons:

1. Cost.
2. The ability of Linux to "act enterprise" without needing enterprise-grade computer hardware.