阮一峰的网络日志

这本书的引言里，有一段对Linux的描述，我觉得说得很好，抄录如下：

Linux has come a long way in a short time. Computing itself is still relatively young by any standard; if the era of modern computing started with the invention of the microchip, it's still less than 50 years old. But Linux is a youngster compared even to this; it has been around for only 16 of those years.

Linux在很短的时间内，就取得了长足的发展。无论根据何种标准，计算机行业都是一个年轻的行业；如果以芯片的发明作为计算机时代的开端，那么至今还不到50年。而Linux甚至还要年轻，它诞生仅仅才16年。

In that brief time span, a student's personal project has grown to where it now runs many computers throughout the world. It has rampaged through the computing industry, providing an alternative to commercial solutions such as those offered by Microsoft, and toppling long-held beliefs about the way things should be done.

在这样短的一段时间里，它从一个大学生的个人项目，发展到运行在全世界无数台电脑上。它将计算机行业搅得天翻地覆，它提供了商业方案（比如微软公司的产品）以外的一种选择，它颠覆了许多长期以来人们认为必然如此的观念。

I was bitten by the Linux bug in the mid-1990s. I was introduced to it by a friend who sold it to me as a kind of alternative to DOS. At that time, I typed a few commands at the prompt and was greeted by error messages. I must admit that I was put off. But shortly afterwards, I revisited Linux and quickly became hooked.

我第一次接触到Linux是90年代中期，一个朋友卖了一份给我，作为DOS的替代品。我在命令提示符下键入了一些命令，得到的却是出错信息。我不得不说，我那时对它印象不佳。但是没过多久，我又重新去使用Linux，这一次我很快就入迷了。

Linux applies an alternative philosophy to computing that revolves around the sharing of not only software but also knowledge. To use Linux is to become part of a huge global community of people who have caught on to a phenomenon that is changing the world.

Linux给计算机行业带来了一种不一样的哲学，它的核心观念不仅仅是提倡分享软件，而且提倡分享知识。使用Linux，就意味着你成为了一个巨大社区的一员，这个社区中的人们正在创造着一种改变世界的潮流。

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