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Does Linux "Fail To Think Across Layers?"
John Siracusa writes a brief article at Ars Technica pointing out an exchange between Andrew Morton, a lead developer of the Linux kernel, and a ZFS developer. Morton accused ZFS of being a "rampant layering violation." Siracusa states that this attitude of refusing to think holistically ("across layers") is responsible for all of the current failings of Linux — desktop adoption, user-friendliness, consumer software, and gaming. ZFS is effective because it crosses the lines set by conventional wisdom. Siracusa ultimately believes that the ability to achieve such a break is more likely to emerge within an authoritative, top-down organization than from a grass-roots, fractious community such as Linux.
Ok, ok! So Linux supports OpenGL, OpenAL, OpenEXR, JPEG-2000, Open Inventor, the Renderman scene language and shaders, DirectX under WINE, Constructive Solid Geometry, Sound Fonts, 5.1 audio, audio raytracing, speech synthesis, efficient use of multi-core CPUs, real-time process scheduling and asynchronous I/O, but... What have the Romans ever done for us?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)