I'd love to have a more intersting answer, but it's essentially the foundation of most modern computing. Pretty much everything else I can think of, as important and useful as they may be, are things that could reasonably be rebuilt.
Linux was not inevitable and it's probable that such monumentally huge and complicated project would never be reproduced. It came out of a culture that was rooted very much in its time, and the momentum it gained was incredible. I think it will stand as a unique and wonderful anomaly in human history.
afterthought: Actually, I'm gonna go with Ben and say GNU/Linux. As pretentious as the copypasta rant Stallman went was, Linux as we know it wouldn't be what it is without the GNU project.
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Prrrrroooobably GNU/Linux, but I'd love to hear some more outside-the-box replies.
Those are separate projects. I'd go for the Linux kernel 100%; all the GNU stuff is easier to rebuild on top of it.
Linux, 100%
I'd love to have a more intersting answer, but it's essentially the foundation of most modern computing. Pretty much everything else I can think of, as important and useful as they may be, are things that could reasonably be rebuilt.
Linux was not inevitable and it's probable that such monumentally huge and complicated project would never be reproduced. It came out of a culture that was rooted very much in its time, and the momentum it gained was incredible. I think it will stand as a unique and wonderful anomaly in human history.
afterthought: Actually, I'm gonna go with Ben and say GNU/Linux. As pretentious as the copypasta rant Stallman went was, Linux as we know it wouldn't be what it is without the GNU project.