The
battle between Linux and Microsoft, which lasted two decades since the
inception of Linus Torvalds famous operating system kernel is completed.
Linux has won, says Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin.
For
one, it is striking exception in the form of a desktop computer, Linux
was ahead of Microsoft in all markets, including server and mobile, says
Zemlin.
"I think we should no longer be so concerned about Microsoft", - said Zemlin. "The company was our great enemy, but now it looks like kicking a puppy."
While
Microsoft shares over the last decade are in place, the leader in open
source software, the company Red Hat, by contrast, showed significant
growth, said Zemlin. And
the software based on Linux represented everywhere, "he declares as a
supporter of open source project, which is preparing to celebrate its 20
anniversary.
"I believe that the 20th anniversary of the merits of memories, where we started," - said Zemlin in an interview. Linux
has been "a modest beginning as a student project in one of the
colleges of Helsinki, and to date the project has grown into something
global, a foundation that provides the 70% of world markets and the
management of most of the Internet projects, whether it's Facebook,
Google or Amazon ".
Linux
can be found in consumer electronics devices such as TVs and video
cameras Sony, in the Amazon Kindle, smartphones and tablets based on the
Google Android. Linux
market leader, from tiny embedded systems to the largest
supercomputers, with more than 90% of the 500 most powerful computer
systems in the world use Linux.
"Linux dominates in almost all varieties of computer hardware, except for desktop computers," - said Zemlin.
Nine out of ten traditional desktops are still running Windows, the rest goes to Mac and Linux. The defeat of Linux in an attempt to capture a significant share of desktops, "many disappointing" - acknowledged Zemlin. But
"the good news is that traditional desktop PCs become less important,
and the areas in which Linux is very strong in terms of customers, on
the contrary, increase its value."
Here,
of course, refers to smart phones and tablets, where Microsoft is
struggling to shift from the positions of Apple and Google Android. Nevertheless,
a recent study IDC predicted that new devices with Microsoft, Windows
Phone 7, will bypass the iPhone and will have a larger share in the
global market by 2015.
When asked Zemlin about this assumption, he responded, more precisely describe a few seconds of hysterical laughter. "My God, Steve Jobs! Sell shares Apple!", - He joked.
Zemlin optimism linked to the success Android, which uses the kernel, resulting from Linux. Devices
with Android now have more widespread than the iPhone, and webOS from
HP on Linux as a viable competitor in the mobile market.
Zemlin
believes that smartphones and Tablet luring people from desktops and
laptops, so that Microsoft will hand over its positions in the computer
market. "Today people are increasingly using smartphones for various operations, rather than traditional PCs," - said Zemlin. "In
this case, Linux does have a dominant market share at the expense of
systems such as Android, or through other versions of Linux in the
mobile space."
Although
among the Apple iPad tablet is undoubtedly a leader, which creates
problems for those who prefer open source technologies.
"Apple is the worst enemy and best friend, if you are a supporter of open source," - says Zemlin. "Apple
has done much good for open source software and Linux. It has changed
the notion of a client that was good for Linux. In the products Apple is
also a large number of open source components, and in some cases,
companies tend to cooperate fruitfully with open source-community. But I'm not going to say that they do not also have a very closed system. "
Linus Torvalds began developing the Linux kernel in 1991 as an alternative to Unix. Depending
on your point of view, Linux conceived to exist, or August 25, 1991,
when Tovalds posted a message stating that it is developing a free
operating system "just as a hobby, it will not be big and professional
projects like gnu", or 5 October 1991, when it was released the first version of Linux. Devotees
of Linux will celebrate both dates, but the main event will be held
from 17 to 19 August at a conference LinuxCon North America in
Vancouver, Canada. Linux Foundation will also hold a significant event this week in San Francisco, Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit.
Linux
Foundation, which Torvalds is an employee, is dedicated to accelerating
the introduction and development of Linux, as well as bringing people
together to work together and make a greater number of technical
innovations in the core. Established
in 2007 in San Francisco, the organization has in its composition and
among sponsors many well-known in the technical industry companies,
including IBM, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, Google, HP, Red Hat and dozens of
others.
"It's almost everything except for Microsoft", - said Zemlin. "We get money from corporations and from people who just believe in Linux and use it every day."
Despite the perception of the future of the rainbow Zemlin, he notes that there are still problems. Patent
lawsuits and legal uncertainty may be an obstacle to the adoption of
open source software by some people, even despite the fact that these
problems are not unique to open source software, "said Zemlin. "We
need to train producers how to comply with the requirements of open
source software licenses, and maintaining performance at low cost. This
is a difficult task," - he said.
And, of course, there is a problem with the fact that Microsoft still dominates the market for desktops. On
the question of why Linux is not able to increase market share in
desktop PCs, Zemlin said: "There was a monopolist, who quite simply
would not allow someone else's appearance on the market."
Others,
such as GNOME founder Miguel de Icaza, said, "does not seem that the
developers of Linux and open source software combine our efforts when it
comes to understanding the needs of end users' desktops."
But
while, as Microsoft has sold 300 million licenses of Windows 7 and
announced record revenues for the last quarter of approximately $ 20
billion, Zemlin said Linux is that people do not abandon the struggle
for market desktops.
However,
the desktop operating systems themselves are becoming less important as
people increasingly do their work in the browser, he said. In the future you need only a web browser running on any "lightweight" operating system. And
while Internet Explorer works only in Windows, the largest open source
projects such as Chrome and Firefox, can use Windows, and Mac, and
Linux.
"The reality is that while the" main show "has not come yet," - said Zemlin. "Operating
systems in general as the ebb and flow of a very slowly and
imperceptibly over time. People will take some time understanding that
they may have more and do not need all that computing power of desktops,
they need time to what would get used to the different manifestations of computers in life. "
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