In the early 1990's Linus Torvalds started what has become the Linux revolution and evolution with his Linux operating system (OS) kernel. Linus used the GNU (GNU is not Unix) GPL (general public license) to put his new Linux kernel in the public domain. The Linux kernel was specifically designed to be Unix Specification compliant and run on Intel X86 CPU PC computers.
The Free Software Foundation headed by Richard Stallman grabbed the new Linux kernel and added the stuff it took to make a Linux-based OS, now known as the GNU/Linux operating system.
Linux has come a long way. Most Linux packages now are easy to install and to use. There is lots of software for Linux and it's likely that you can do everything you want to do computer-wise with Linux. Linux now is a decent alternative to Microsoft Windows and Unix. It's lots less expensive. Linux is so good that enterprise and server IT managers are switching from Unix to Linux hand over fist.