On 18/05/11 22:46, Avi wrote:
Martin Houston wrote:
It would have been nice to have little snippets like Linux's 20 year
history and the fact it runs on> 95% of all super computers. The page
is very biased to say the least.
Not that either of those matter since we're talking about today and
cheap computers, but Windows predates Linux by about six years.
I know that Linux is often used to denote the operating system in
addition to being the name of the kernel. I regard Linux as being the
kernel, and Stallman started GNU, what he stated was to be a free OS,
in 1983. If one regards the operating system to be 'GNU/Linux' and if
one gives Linux its actual place in history, I believe the timeline is
something like this:
===============================================
1970-1980 Freedom culture 'Hackers at MIT computer labs'
1980: Source code refused to Stallman - Xerox 9700. Sets Stallman on a
free software journey.
1981: Microsoft buys 86-DOS
1982: MS-DOS Version 1.0 released
1983: Stallman announces GNU project
1983: Microsoft Windows announced sells for $100.00
1985: Stallman creates 'Free Software Foundation'
1991: Linux 0.01 - Linus Torvalds: Linux 'kernel'
===============================================
Marketing aside:
As an aside, I believe that there is a marketing disadvantage in
calling the operating system only 'Linux', and not 'GNU/Linux'. A word
with two meanings Linux the kernel, and Linux the OS too, looses
marketing focus and is easy prey to opposition spin.
Witness 'Linux is only for geeks, not normal people' or similar, which
is rolled off the tongue at me when I talk to various computer shops.
Geekdom is true if I talk about the kernel of course, but *I* only
ever use and install and lay hands on 'Ubuntu', the operating system.
GNU/Linux is a better descriptor.
I find the 'L' word is generally a strongly negative word because it
has been adopted by the opposition as a justified pointer to geek
niche use.
--
alan cocks
Ubuntu user
--
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