Slackware Turns 18
Slackware 1.0 was released by Patrick Volkerding exactly 18 years ago in 16 July 1993 in an official release when he was still a student. At that time, it was distributed under 24 disks (yes, floppy disks) and it only has two series, A and X. No one will ever thought that it's now being the oldest maintained Linux distribution up to now 
In 1993, there wasn't much Linux distribution. Slackware is one of the first batch of Linux Distribution at that time along with SLS, Debian Linux, YggDrasil, and MCC Interim. It turned out good so that many Linux distributions are now based on Slackware, such as SuSE (turned OpenSUSE), VectorLinux, Slax, ZenWalk, Salix, and many more.
Today, it's released using a DVD (and an option of using 6 CDs) and it has so many directories inside. It supports so many hardwares thanks to the Linux 2.6.x (soon to be replaced by 3.0 series) series being developed by great developers around the world under the command of Linus Torvalds and also utilizes the best open source applications available provided by upstreams. Slackware follows the tradition of being a fully open source Linux distribution by providing the source available both on the CD/DVD medias and the official repositories.
Slackware still has Patrick Volkerding as the BDFL, but some of the long contributor of Slackware Linux has now become part of Slackware Crew, such as Robby Workman and Eric Hameleers. Both are respected Slackware Contributor who has done so many great contribution projects to Slackware development, such as XFCE and XOrg project by Robby and also KDE and Multilib by Eric. Both are also working as admin in SlackBuilds project where thousands of SlackBuild script are maintained in order to provide the best solution to install software applications that are not (yet) included in the official Slackware Linux.
It's been a long 18 years, but i still think Slackware still is the best Linux distribution i have ever used so far. I have tried several Linux distribution, including Mandrake (now turned into Mandriva), OpenSUSE, Debian, Red Hat (now turned into Fedora), Knoppix, and many more, but at the end (exactly in 2005), i fully migrated to Slackware and i have been using it since then. It's now becoming my primary operating system on all of my desktops and laptops, including the servers i maintained on my office. You can say i'm a Slackware addicts
Happy Birthday to Slackware Linux and congratulation for Patrick Volkerding who has become a GREAT father for this 18 years. We hope you keep enjoying this position and release more and better Slackware versions in the future
In 1993, there wasn't much Linux distribution. Slackware is one of the first batch of Linux Distribution at that time along with SLS, Debian Linux, YggDrasil, and MCC Interim. It turned out good so that many Linux distributions are now based on Slackware, such as SuSE (turned OpenSUSE), VectorLinux, Slax, ZenWalk, Salix, and many more.
Today, it's released using a DVD (and an option of using 6 CDs) and it has so many directories inside. It supports so many hardwares thanks to the Linux 2.6.x (soon to be replaced by 3.0 series) series being developed by great developers around the world under the command of Linus Torvalds and also utilizes the best open source applications available provided by upstreams. Slackware follows the tradition of being a fully open source Linux distribution by providing the source available both on the CD/DVD medias and the official repositories.
Slackware still has Patrick Volkerding as the BDFL, but some of the long contributor of Slackware Linux has now become part of Slackware Crew, such as Robby Workman and Eric Hameleers. Both are respected Slackware Contributor who has done so many great contribution projects to Slackware development, such as XFCE and XOrg project by Robby and also KDE and Multilib by Eric. Both are also working as admin in SlackBuilds project where thousands of SlackBuild script are maintained in order to provide the best solution to install software applications that are not (yet) included in the official Slackware Linux.
It's been a long 18 years, but i still think Slackware still is the best Linux distribution i have ever used so far. I have tried several Linux distribution, including Mandrake (now turned into Mandriva), OpenSUSE, Debian, Red Hat (now turned into Fedora), Knoppix, and many more, but at the end (exactly in 2005), i fully migrated to Slackware and i have been using it since then. It's now becoming my primary operating system on all of my desktops and laptops, including the servers i maintained on my office. You can say i'm a Slackware addicts
Happy Birthday to Slackware Linux and congratulation for Patrick Volkerding who has become a GREAT father for this 18 years. We hope you keep enjoying this position and release more and better Slackware versions in the future