Operating system Linux, as well the whole community of open Software, wins more and more popularity in the world. Linux operates with a great many of hardware platforms: from palm computers to multiprocessor mainframes. Nevertheless, many design engineers are afraid of using this Operating system in their products. Taking Operating system Linux as an example, the article considers positive decisions on the basis of the open Software. The article also covers specific problems of licensing, which can be faced by a design engineer when using open. Softwareinhisorherdevelopments.