FINLAND - Linus Torvalds began working on the kernel for a Unix-like operating system. On July 3, the following message was posted to the comp.os.minix USENET newsgroup:

Linus would later release his code under the terms of the GNU General Public License and continue to add features to the kernel. The effort to create a complete POSIX-compliant Unix-like operating system would be made possible by combining the new Linux kernel with the tools created by Richard Stallman and others for the GNU project, resulting in the creation of GNU/Linux. Years later, free software, with Linux at the core, would become a threat to major commercial interests.