Cynics in the IT industry feel that Linux might go the Unix way. They've been in the industry for a while and feel this is one sector which goes for hyperbole.
Unix, a precursor of today's open source movement, was created in 1969 when proprietory software, used on mainframes and minicomputers, was very expensive. Computers weren't quite so user-friendly then. Around 1969-70, Kenneth Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others at AT&T Bell Labs began developing a small operating system, which they soon chrsitened Unix. It was relatively easy to use and could be ported to different computers. A lot of research was done to develop and improve it in various universities, particularly the University of california at Berkeley. Just as in the case of Linux, hackers at many universities and research institutions became familiar with Unix.