Hello everyone! How are you? I hope you’re doing well. Today, Linux is the foundation of many modern architectures and standards, not just because of the kernel itself, but because of what emerged around it. Therefore, imagining a world without Linux basically means having to rebuild the foundation of modern computing history.

Although Linux is omnipresent today and practically invisible to the average user, its absence would trigger radical transformations in technology, the digital economy, and software culture. This time, I will attempt to create a theoretical framework regarding what I believe an alternative world would look like, one where Linux or something similar had never existed—alongside the historical and technical justifications that allow us to evaluate these scenarios. So without further ado, let’s begin.

BSD and GNU

Surely, the first idea that comes to mind is that BSD would be the ultimate alternative. And while it is a good starting point, there is a small problem: GNU and BSD conflict in their philosophies:

• On one hand, we have GNU, which requires derived code to remain free software.
• On the other hand, we have BSD, which is more permissive since anyone (even corporations) can take the code and redistribute it without sharing their changes.

This and other differences, such as BSDs typically caring more about things like minimalism or portability, make integrating GNU components into BSD (or vice versa) complicated without reaching an agreement. Therefore, I will also avoid mentioning BSD.

Proprietary Alternatives

In a world without Linux, it is reasonable to assume that the vacuum left by a free, robust, and adaptable operating system would have been filled primarily by proprietary alternatives. In the 1990s, when Linux emerged as a free option capable of scaling from servers to embedded devices, the predominant competitors were closed systems like Windows NT, Solaris, AIX, or HP-UX. And although we could consider BSDs, we must keep in mind that Linux started to gain popularity in 1993. FreeBSD and NetBSD came out that same year, while OpenBSD came out in 1997, so we would have to add even more time if we wanted to consider them.

Thus, without Linux, I believe proprietary systems would have extended their dominance:

• Windows would have captured a much larger share of the server market due to the lack of a free competitor offering stability and low cost.
• Commercial UNIXes would probably remain the norm in high-performance environments, given the lack of a free alternative compatible with POSIX standards.
• The modular innovation of embedded systems would have been limited by dependence on costly licenses.

This configuration would have generated a computing world with less platform diversity, greater dependence on large corporations, and significant economic barriers for startups and experimental projects.

Linux and the Internet

The Internet infrastructure is heavily sustained by Linux. Web servers (Apache, Nginx), routers, DNS systems, containers, cloud services, and virtualization platforms all rely on Linux, optimized over decades by a global community.

Without Linux, the consequences would be clear:

Significantly Higher Costs

The reason the Internet became globally accessible is that providers were able to scale using robust free software. Otherwise, they would have had to pay high licenses for every server and network node, which in turn would have driven up the costs of:

• Hosting
• Internet access
• Digital services
• Tech startup development

Lower Security and Transparency

The open nature of the Linux kernel code allows independent audits and quick fixes—a benefit difficult to replicate with closed systems.

Without Linux:

• The attack surface would be larger.
• Response times to vulnerabilities would depend on specific corporations.
• State and corporate surveillance would be harder to detect.

Less Distributed Innovation

The collaborative development culture of free software accelerated standards such as:

• HTTP/2 and HTTP/3
• Containers (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Modern web backend
• Software-defined networking

In a world without Linux, much of this innovation would have been delayed or centralized in a few entities, reducing open experimental research capabilities.

Android and Mobile Devices

Android is directly based on the Linux kernel. Its non-existence would completely transform the mobile ecosystem:

• iOS would have an almost absolute market monopoly, featuring high prices and low device diversity.
• Alternative proprietary systems could have emerged, such as Windows Phone, a reinvented Symbian, or closed platforms developed by manufacturers like Samsung.
• Standard fragmentation would have been much greater, affecting both developers and consumers.

Additionally, the expansion of smartphones in developing countries would have been much slower, given that Android is the main driver of democratizing mobile access—though if we consider that Android came out in the late 2000s, we could also speculate it might have been based on some BSD, which by then were more mature. Of course, it would have been more expensive because it wouldn’t have had the development momentum Linux already had at that point.

Science and Supercomputing

Linux dominates modern supercomputing: over 95% of supercomputers use distributions based on it due to its performance, customizability, and zero cost.

In a world without Linux:

• Research systems would incur very high costs.
• Scientific computing would depend on private vendors.
• The pace of advancement in areas like AI, genetics, climatology, and nuclear physics would be reduced.

Universities would have maintained smaller and more costly infrastructures, limiting access to advanced computational experimentation, though if we consider BSDs, progress would simply have been delayed considerably.

Conclusion

Linux is not just an operating system; it is one of the pillars of the free and open-source software movement. Without it:

• The legitimacy of open source would have been much lower.
• Projects like Git, Kubernetes, Debian, Ubuntu, or Red Hat would not exist.
• Global collaboration among developers would be fragmented.
• The culture of self-taught learning and open technical communities would be smaller.

Technology would look more like 1990s cable television: powerful, but closed, expensive, and controlled by a few companies.

The theoretical absence of Linux leads to a consistent and reasonable scenario: a digital infrastructure dominated by proprietary systems, lower technological democratization, higher costs, slower innovation, and unequal access to computer knowledge.

Linux acted as an equilibrating force in modern technological history. Without it, the world would be more centralized, less open, and less dynamic. Although it is impossible to state with total certainty how technology would have evolved, historical and technical evidence justifies that Linux has been a crucial catalyst for diversity, innovation, and global access to the digital world.