Gigastrand International: Celebrating 8 years

Gigastrand Founder Josh Tordsen at the Desktop Linux Summit in 2006

Since its founding February 1st, 2006, Gigastrand International has survived and endured some of the worst economic times in history. Throughout its 8 years of business, it has manged to continue and expand its mission of Linux advocacy during times that have killed off lesser businesses. 

Before it was founded as Gigastrand International in 2006, the Linux advocacy took on the form of LinspireNetwork in 2004, and GigabytesNetwork in 2005. That amounts to over a decade of Linux advocacy. 

A brief history.
2006 started out well for Gigastrand. Gigastrand had a presence at the Desktop Linux Summit, it sold several PCs and laptops that year, Gigastrand had many industry firsts, and things were looking up.

Then, in December of 2006, co-founder Patrick Green bowed out to focus on other projects. in 2007, Linspire, Gigastrand's flagship product, went out of business. Gigastrand searched for a suitable replacement and eventually found it in Linux Mint.

In 2007, the concept of the Gigastrand OS was born. The project was shelved in 2008 after switching to Linux Mint.

2008 - 2010 Gigastrand eliminated all unnecessary operations and maintained the website with a few residual sales of Linux Mint and freespire.

Then, in 2011, Gigastrand reorganized once again. It began with a complete overhaul of the website, a renewal of the business license, and a new plan of action resulting in increased sales. In 2012 things began to fall into place and, as a result, Gigastrand began to pursue the idea of its own OS. The Gigastrand OS concept was dusted off and reborn with a new purpose.

Over a year, the Gigastrand OS was developed and Gigastrand evolved. While the final product released fell short of some expectations, it did accomplish nearly all of the goals we had set out to accomplish. 

What's ahead?
2014 is shaping up to be a gang buster year for Gigastrand. With the Gigastrand OS embodying our mission, it will be at the center of everything we do this year. There are a lot of plans for Gigastrand this year. 

If you think all this is cool, wait until you see what is next.