Linux popularity (from "A-EON Technology: Introducing Tabor and the A1222")

[Iggy]

And Linux is the most deployed OS on the planet.

Definitely not the case for personal computers and laptops in the US.

[Iggy]

The ironic thing is that Linus started work on what became Linux because he could not afford to buy a Unix license for his PC.  Twenty four years later and Linux is well established on servers and mobile phones, and pretty much owns the super computer space, but is still around 1% use on desktop systems.  Things seldom work out as envisioned!

Linux users love to claim the android market.
Linux doesn't run on cell phones, a proprietary derivative of it does.
The same with the tablet market.

I wish Linus had had the insight to base his kernel on more modern concepts than UNIX.
Linux has just become another monolithic beast.

As to large firms using it, why wouldn't they adopt free UNIX?

As to individuals being asked to us an OS with UNIX roots?
Personally, I find BSD based OSX to be far easier to work with.

[Iggy]

You are confusing Linux with GNU again Jim.

Linux is not a clone of the UNIX operating system, it is a clone of the UNIX kernel.

GNU is a clone of the UNIX operating system that is commonly used with the Linux kernel but also other kernels too.

The Linux kernel underlies a series of UNIX clone OS'.
It is not like they serve a function separately.

And taken as a whole, its still copying, at least BSD has a proper license.

[Iggy]

I would say GNU _was_ an _attempt_ at cloning a UNIX operating system under the GPL license. The native GNU kernel has always been Hurd, and not Linux. These days, all operating systems are a mix of software under a whole range of licenses, it is pretty much the same software powering all the operating systems. For example I have systems with BSD kernels and mostly GNU user land (Gentoo/FreeBSD), and you can easily have Linux systems that are totally free for GNU user land, not at all uncommon on embedded systems.

I have seen those type of systems.

[Iggy]

Yes, such as any time you root an Android device.

Like one phone I have, which I now wish I'd never done.
Android is still proprietary.

This looks like pure nonsense to me

Obviously you didn't grow up watching a large US company and Universities across the country invest their time, effort and money only to have their work purloined by a hack then.
Remember what you guys have already said "created because he couldn't afford'...

But then the Amiga community has a long history of expecting someone else's work at low or no cost, and making excuses for outright theft.

[Iggy]

"has become"? It was _always_ a monolithic beast, by design! Did you _really_ miss out on the discussions between Torvalds and Tanenbaum?? Oh my!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanenbaum%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!8211;Torvalds_debate

:laughing:

I have always had the greatest sympathy for Dr. Tanenbaum, because his creation is not advertised as anything but a learning tool.

The issue of Micro vs Macro kernels is in no way defined by a comparison of Linux to Minix.

My first multi-tasking OS' were derived from OS' used in real time process control and mission critical applications.
Environments that Windows, OSX, and Linux are still pretty unsuited for.

Laugh away while the Linux kernel continue to grow relentlessly.

Reliability and good security are not inherent to the environments you advocate.

[Iggy]

I used to run a Debian/kFreeBSD VM just fur playing around but haven't touched it for a long while. Dyson is my new plaything now.

http://osdyson.org/projects/dyson/wiki

Nick, that would be another pet peeve of mine about these type of OS' - "playing around".

One OS I still have some for use today, was used by the company that introduced me to it for heart monitors.

Not the kind of application I want to have running on something that isn't virtually perfect.

[Iggy]

Gee, butt hurt much? :laughing:

Nope, I just had friends who lost a lot of money due to piracy.
It makes me a little edgy about intellectual property rights.

But I will lighten up a bit.

I'm beginning to sound like one of those soap box lecturers I remember from my childhood in the sixties.

Idealism is really just an unrealistic point of view, life involves too much compromise and cooperation to get hung up on that.

So I will let off Linus for tonight.

After all, those OS' you perpetually switch through give you all something to entertain yourselves with.

And I still default to commercial OS' for most uses, not out of preference just due to practicality.

[Iggy]

The entire debate started with Tanenbaum bashing Linux for being monolithic and hence a waste of time..

Yeah, an ivory tower extremist.
After way to many College classes, I've been exposed to a lot of them.

However, the arguments against monolithic kernels still have more than a little validity.

That does not mean that ANY approach should be belittled or dismissed.
Its the results the matter.

And I think part of my poor attitude about this, was how I saw this all closing in from the '80s on.
I feel like ALL the major OS offer limited variation/choice.

I can rotate through just about any of them, and they are all so...alike.