The Story of Tux

The short version of this story is that Linus Torvalds simply liked penguins. When Linux users began to mention the need for a logo. Mr. Torvalds suggested the penguin.

This website has an email to the Linux community from 1996 outlining his vision for how the penguin should look. To sum up what Mr. Torvalds was looking for, he wanted the penguin to look satisfied, as though he had just stuffed himself on a meal of herring.

But again, you may ask, why a penguin? Well. Mr. Torvalds explained that as well. He has always adored penguins, and he wanted to separate Linux from the corporate OS. He thought the best way to represent an open source OS was with something goofy and fun.

Mr. Torvalds also felt the penguin was very universal, very much like his OS. Tux can be dressed up, posed, and altered to fit the individual user's needs.

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