It's free!

Although you can pay for shrink-wrapped Linux distributions at a store, Linux is actually a free operating system. In other words, you can download it for free from the web, or have someone else to download it and burn it onto CDs.

This is free as in ``free beer''.

Linux is also free as in ``freedom''. The source code of Linux is freely available, and the license (called GNU General Public License) allows anyone to modify the source, given that the modification be made available free to others. This is partially why Linux spreads to all kinds of platforms and processors quickly.