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Ubuntu 16.10 To Be Powered By Linux Kernel 4.8 (softpedia.com)
Reader prisoninmate shares a Softpedia report: We've been monitoring the Ubuntu 16.10 development cycle for quite some time now to see what Linux kernel version the upcoming GNU/Linux operating system will be based on, and for now, it remains powered by the same kernel packages as Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus). Also, it looks like Ubuntu 16.10 has been switched to a universal local DNS resolver service. However, the Ubuntu Kernel Team published the other day a new installation of their weekly newsletter, informing the community that Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) would soon be rebased on the latest stable Linux 4.6 kernels. Then, it will move to the Release Candidate builds of Linux kernel 4.7, and after that, the operating system will finally be switched to Linux kernel 4.8.
The parent comment were probably get modded down merely for mentioning systemd, but it does bring up an important point: GNU/Linux is no longer just GNU/Linux. As time goes on, it's becoming more and more a case of GNU/systemd/Linux.
What worries me about this situation is that we're seeing the "GNU" and the "Linux" portions shrink, with systemd subsuming more and more of their functionality on an ongoing basis.
The centralization that's now happening is really concerning to me and others. It's not in the spirit of open source software, and it's not in the spirit of the UNIX philosophy.
The GNU (and other open source) software that has traditionally made up Linux distros was developed in a far more open, collaborative way than systemd has been developed. GNU and other open source software typically supports many UNIX-like OSes, and even some not-so-UNIX-like OSes, too. But systemd supports Linux, and only Linux (which may not necessarily be a bad thing, to keep it from spreading). GNU and other open source software is typically developed in cooperation, rather than in a dictatorial fashion like we've seen with systemd, where the wider user community has little to no impact on its direction. Additionally, the GNU and other open source software is typically more isolated and modular, so individual components can easily be swapped out with alternatives, which isn't really an option when using systemd.
While some people might welcome this change, I think it will just be a huge problem in the long run. GNU/Linux has become GNU/systemd/Linux today. But soon it will become just systemd/Linux, as systemd subsumes the userland software. And if the trend continues, it will just become systemd as systemd subsumes the kernel, too. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and the other mainstream Linux distros won't be Linux distros any longer, but rather they'll just be systemd distros.