Computer aficionados have long written their own clever little applications to solve problems they’ve run into on own their personal machines. Linus Torvalds developed the most famous piece of open source software — the Linux kernel — in 1991 because he wanted an operating system that used computer hardware resources more efficiently. After some tinkering, he devised a program he felt comfortable sharing with other people, and he published it on the Internet — inviting comments and refinements.
Link: Government Technology
