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Linus Holds Forth On the Future of Linux

Posted by timothy on from the and-who-better dept.

colinmc151 writes "As part of Geekcruises' Linux Lunacy cruise to Alaska, Linus Torvalds was interviewed and answered questions about where he sees the future of Linux with a particular eye towards developers. Great stuff."

4 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. The future of Linux is the Desktop/Set-top/GameBox by Adolph_Hitler · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The future of Linux in the short term is to take the marketshare which OSX/Apple currently has, in the long term I can see Linux running on PS3, I can see Linux running on a networked media center, in school computer labs, and on laptops. I think Linux needs to take the Desktop.

    --
    People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
  2. Dumb, ignorant non-codie question time... by Illbay · · Score: 0, Redundant
    ...I keep hearing that Linux "aspires to be Posix-compliant." Is this STILL an aspiration, and if so, when does it come to fruition? What is the "certification process" that ultimately renders an OS liable to be declared "Posix-compliant?"

    In short, when can Linux be officially considered "*nix"?

    --
    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
  3. Torvalds Attacked by Penguin! by superyooser · · Score: 0, Redundant
    No, really! See the bottom of the article.

    What's with the Penguin?
    Q: One question you have (on the slide) is "What's with the penguin?"

    Linus: I just have that because a lot of people ask me about it. I actually don't have a good answer. It just is, right?

    There are a lot of reasons for the penguin. I was bitten by a penguin. And it's a true story. It's funny, because there are a lot of Web sites about the penguin. There's like The History of Tux, and things like that. And some of these Web sites have some of my explanation. And they almost universally say, "It's a great story, but it's not true." That I was bitten by a penguin.

    It's true! I was bitten by a penguin! I mean, really! Take it from me! I'm wounded. Okay, so he wasn't six foot tall.

    (Laughter.)

    Q: Is it true he was radioactive? Is it true you killed it afterwards?

    (Laughter.)

    Linus: Okay, some fo the rumors aren't true.

    I've talked to some people who are in advertising, and they love the penguin. They think it's the greatest logo ever. And it's funny thinking back. Because we made it for, I think, the 2.0 release. Like, in '95 or something? And a lot of people hated it because it wasn't serious enough. But it's great. The advertising people really like the fact that you can do things with it. "That's the stroke of genius! The guy who came up with the penguin is a marketing genius!" (Sarcastically) Yeah.

    (Laughter.)

    So, whatever.

  4. Linus has good reasons by robinjo · · Score: 0, Redundant

    If you pay attention to what Linus says and writes, you can see that he has strong opinions and they are backed with lots of knowledge, experience and reason. Linus is a great example of how to not get distracted by secondary issues. When he has an opinion, it's worth listening to as it's not based on:

    1. Religion
    2. What everybody else does
    3. Money

    IIRC, Linus thinks that microkernels are slow. You have to use some ugly hacks to solve the speed issue and other problems.