The Linux Identity Crisis

Jayze Calrtini writes "From an article from ZDNet:"If you've been following the current rift in the Linux community between Linus Torvalds and his minions squaring off against Con Kolivas and the mainstream Linux fanatics, you probably know that it's getting quite heated. You also probably know that these two entirely different ideas could create three possible paths Linux can take for the future: stay geeky and appeal to the advanced tech guru in all of us; go mainstream and leave the advanced functionality and reliable kernel behind to compete with Microsoft and Apple; or face a "civil war" that could lead to total Linux annihilation."

say it with me children

[tomstdenis]

LINUX IS THE KERNEL.

Ubuntu is a distro comprising of a linux kernel and userland tools/libraries. Why would going the "ubuntu" route would involve any changes in the kernel is beyond me. Ubuntu is nothing more than a well engineered collection of userspace tools that makes the PC useful, it relies on the Linux kernel to manage the system.

In short, you can appeal to the "mainstream" [also known as the dumbification of society] and yet keep a technically impressive kernel behind the scenes.

Agreed

[upside]

I don't know what he is basing this crap on, like that Linus thinks Linux shouldn't go mainstream. Linus works for the Linux foundation that "promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. [linux-foundation.org]"

Next article, please.

Re:another option

[jimstapleton]

Ahh, yes, my slow little FreeBSD install on my Dual Core system.

The only OSes slower that I've install on that machine are Windows, Fedora, and Ubuntu.

Could you tell me what a fast OS for a dual core optron or a Core Solo is? I'd really like to know... I can't get BeOS on them, or MacOS, so I can't test those. MINIX maybe?

Re:sensationalist

[morgan_greywolf]

There's a cure for that. It's administered by combining CONFIG_PREEMPT and Ingo Molnar's realtime kernel [kerneltrap.org] patch. With a proper config, your PC will never drop audio again.

Re:another option

[Anonymous Coward]

Theo gets a bad rap for not being a nicey-nice guy, but there's no denying that he gets the job done. Every release of OpenBSD gets better and better.
The OS doesn't try to be everything to everyone though, as it focusses on correctness and security , long before speed and features. Those who value that (and the other goodies that OpenBSD provides, such as first-class documentation) will eventually sumble upon it and find their home. The vast majority of the population who don't care about that stuff will keep installing the lastest Kubuntu or whatever and load those nvidia and broadcom wifi blobs that make them fat and happy.

Re:My Vote

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm.... if you can install software without being an administrator then how are you going to prevent a virus or worm from installing itself while surfing the web. The whole security issue with XP is that you were allowed to install software without being an administrator. The whole idea of having the administrator be the only one to install software is a security feature.... obviously you don't understand how it works, because you're whining about the inconvenience of asking for a password and praising the security of Vista which has adopted a similar scheme to the one you're whining about.