The software powering the device is built on the open-source Linux kernel and the open-source WebKit Web browser engine, Rathakrishnan says.

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Ubuntu is the most popular operating system to be based on the Linux kernel - the code that lets software and hardware work together.

BBC: Ubuntu operating system comes to Android smartphones

Enter Spark, a seven-inch slate that comes running the Plasma Active UX, an open-source OS based on Linux kernel, KDE's multi-platform Plasma environment and a dash of Qt for good measure.

ENGADGET: Meet Spark, the 200 euro slate packing Linux-based Plasma Active UX

Coverity's founders, four graduate students from Stanford University and their professor, recently grammar-checked the entire Linux 2.6.9 kernel operating system and found a respectably low 950 bugs in 5.5 million lines.

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Mr Torvalds released the first version of the Linux kernel in 1991, when he was a 21-year-old computer-science student at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

ECONOMIST: MONITORS: And the winners are... | The

Note: While Android is based on a Linux kernel, the goal behind Tizen seems to be an even more open-source, flexible OS designed to be user-friendly and carrier-friendly.

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While many open-source fans will be downloading a copy for the more recent Linux 3.2.29 kernel and other updated packages, ease of use is the guiding principle for the new build: there's now a graphical NetworkManager interface to manage wired and wireless connections, for a start.

ENGADGET: Slackware 14.0 now available, freshens and simplifies a Linux vanguard

On January 4th, Linus Torvalds, the Finnish programmer who co-ordinates the development of Linux (see article), quietly released the latest version of the Linux kernel the software that, as its name suggests, is at the core of the operating system.

ECONOMIST: Computing