
2013: A Linux Christmas - tanglesome
http://www.zdnet.com/2013-a-linux-christmas-7000024666/
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bollockitis
On one hand, I'm happy to see the Linux kernel being used in all sorts of
consumer devices. It's a real victory for the developers and for the open
source model. On the other hand, it has only been successful because it has
enabled major corporations to fight the mobile platform wars. Linux hasn't
succeeded on its own merits but as an economical way for companies to
bootstrap their own products to fight for Apple's leftovers.

The author isn't fooling anyone. We all know that the goal was for Linux to
take the desktop. It was to be a win for freedom against the tyranny of
Microsoft. That didn't happen. Instead, Apple stepped in and ate everyone's
lunch, and now it seems the Linux warriors want to move the goal posts. Sure,
Linux has spread far and wide, but most consumers still have no idea what
Linux is, and nor would they care. Linux isn't something people want, it's
something they use without being aware of it. Is that a victory or a tragedy?

~~~
simonh
Linux has changed the world. Yes of course I'm talking about the kernel,
that's what Linux is. It's what it's always been.

Without Linux there would be no Android and Apple would by now own 95% of the
smartphone market(1). Server infrastructure across the industry, including Web
hosting, would cost an arm and a leg due to proprietary Unix license costs.
Services like Rackspace and AWS would likely be barely viable, if at all. A
generation of geeks would have grown up probably on Windows without Linux to
cut their technical teeth on.

Linux success is a bit like that of SQLite. There are probably over 50 SQLite
databases in the room with me right now, on the smartphones the other people
here have in their pockets, but you'd never know it. It doesn't matter if
anyone knows it or not, in fact the technology being invisible is the point.
It's why even the fact that OSX and iOS are unix under the hood is such a
triumph.

The goal might have been Linux on the Desktop for some, as a back end guy for
me that's always been a distraction. Mobile is making the Desktop almost
irrelevant, or at least a niche market, and Linux and Unix are right there,
out in the lead. They run the client devices in people's hands, and most of
the back end services those devices rely on. They own the future.

(1) I'm a happy loyal iPhone user, but I'm not stupid enough to not realize
that would be a bad thing.

~~~
Touche
I like Linux as much as the next guy, but if there hadn't been Linux FreeBSD
would have just taken its place. Possibly more of a split between FreeBSD and
Solaris.

~~~
thirdsight
This. Source:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_based_on_FreeB...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_based_on_FreeBSD)

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maxleibman
I think the "Linux hasn't succeeded on its own merits" argument isn't quite
apt. Arguably, Windows didn't succeed on its own merits, either--it was a
"good enough" platform backed by significant business acumen and, with time,
platform lock-in.

That said, it does feel a little strange to credit Linux at large for what is
largely an Android revolution. A good parallel is Unix and OS X; however
purely Unixy the core is, it would still feel awkward to count Apple's market
share under "Unix."

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katcooke
>Even before the holiday buying season really kicked in, the NPD Group found
that Chromebooks "accounted for 21 percent of all [preconfigured] notebook
sales, up from negligible share in the prior year, and 8 percent of all
computer and tablet sales through November. It's up from one tenth of a
percent in 2012."

Only commercial channels like schools and companies, not retail sales to
consumers. That too only in the US. It's a disingenuous claim, if not
extremely misleading.

Also, top on Amazon doesn't really mean much for many electronics. For
example, Windows Phone 7 was a bestseller in 2012.
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57411238-94/lumia-900-tops-...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57411238-94/lumia-900-tops-
amazons-cellphone-bestsellers-list/)

~~~
Touche
Commercial channels account for the vast majority of total sales.

