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Linus's Baby Comes of Age

Posted by Zonk on from the so-this-is-growing-up dept.

just_another_sean writes "Torvalds' Baby Comes of Age - BusinessWeek Online is running a story on how Linux has matured over the years. They have some positive things to say about it, and back up their statements with some examples and stats." From the article: "Hardware companies are selling more than $1 billion in servers to run Linux every quarter, while sales of servers running proprietary software continue to fall. And now, slowly but surely, Linux is making inroads on the desktop as well. According to IBM, 10 million desktops ran Linux in 2004 -- a 40% jump from a year ago. That progress has been an important foot in the door for all open-source companies. Marc Fleury, chief executive of open-source middleware company JBoss, describes the Linux operating system pioneered by Torvalds as the older brother who fought the tough battles and was able to get the curfew extended and the keys to the car, so that life was a lot easier for the rest of the open-source world. "

10 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. But remember folks... by Noryungi · · Score: 3, Funny

    As seen on Slashdot: the GPL hinders the development of Linux.

    (Yes, this is funny. Laugh.)

    So, on one hand we have ZDNet telling us the GPL is bad, bad, bad. On the other hand, we have BusinessWeek telling us Linux is going places. Oh, and Steve Ballmer says the GPL is for communist bearded hippies. Go figure. I guess somebody did not get the memo or something.

    --
    The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  3. Actually... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    For a second there, I thought Linus had a kid...

    Actually, he's married and has three kids, all girls. Yes, fellow slashdotters, our favorite geek hero has trascended beyond the realms of our known universe: He COULD get a girlfriend! :-o

    \o/ \o/ All nerds bow to Linus the Great! \o/ \o/

    1. Re:Actually... by Stradenko · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, I initially thought those sick f*cks at businessweek were talking about Patricia...nine years old? coming of age? sick bastards.

    2. Re:Actually... by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

      our favorite geek hero has trascended beyond the realms of our known universe

      I think what you mean is that Linus fork()ed and got 3 new processes going...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    3. Re:Actually... by valintin · · Score: 4, Funny

      For a second there... I actually thought one of his daughters was old enough to start sending in patches.

    4. Re:Actually... by pablodiazgutierrez · · Score: 5, Funny
      Actually, he's married and has three kids, all girls.

      He prefers calling them his genetic back-ups.

      --

      To do list for Windows
    5. Re:Actually... by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, but those backups are like mp3s, in the respect that they are quite lossy. Maybe with 3 backups, there is enough parity to assemble the original.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    6. Re:Actually... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      From the Wikipedia article:

      Linus is married to Tove Torvalds. She is a six-time Finnish national Karate champion, whom he first met in fall 1993.

      So his children are the unholy union of a geek demigod and a woman who could beat a Navy SEAL to death with little to no effort. Wow....

  4. All at the same time? by ClosedSource · · Score: 3, Funny

    IBM spokesperson: There were 10 million desktops running Linux in 2004.

    Business week: All at the same time?

    IBM spokesperson: Well, no. We were going to take 5 million PCs out of stock and load Linux on them before installing Windows, but then we decided to load Linux on a single PC and move it from desktop to desktop. It was much cheaper.