"Linux really wouldn't have gone anywhere interesting at all if it hadn't been released as an open source product. I also think that the change to the GPLv2 from my original 'no money' license was important, because the commercial interests were actually very important from the beginning. The commercial distributions were what drove a lot of the nice installers and pushed people to improve usability," said Linux creator Linus
Complete story here:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/60052.html
While this blog talks about the creator of Linux, I have heard many different ways people pronounce 'linux'. Here is how Linus Torvalds - the creator pronounces it himself.