Bonum Certa Men Certa

GNU/Linux Has Taken Over the Industry; Latest FUD is Denying That Something is 'True' GNU/Linux

Summary: Diversity of brands makes the domination of GNU/Linux easy to overlook (goalposts are being moved)

GNU/Linux, especially as a type of advocacy magnet, is sort of passé because it is now a mainstream, highly-recognised entity with billions of dollars spent on it by corporations which rebrand it (e.g. Android, SteamOS). But advocacy of GNU/Linux is not dead. It's just less necessary than before.



Last month was a "Very Linux Christmas," [1] as one GNU/Linux advocate put it (others suggested migrating old PCs to GNU/Linux over Christmas [2]). There are all sorts of other advocacy posts like "Linux Nerd New Year's Resolutions" [3] and "I have no intention of ending my relationships with Linux" [4]. In 2013 there we had "A Linux Christmas" [5], as SJVN (probably the most famous GNU/Linux advocate) put it [5]. Sean Kerner, another journalist and advocate of GNU/Linux, is sticking to his format of "Linux Top 3" [6-8]. He used to write many individual articles about positive GNU/Linux news. He can no longer keep up and concentrate on individual stories.

It's is clear that Linux is now embedded in almost everything [9], often with GNU, e.g. in Chromebooks and netbooks [10-12]. Dell, despite its strong connection to Microsoft, has got its own Linux-based operating system as well [13]. Compatibility across distributions is improving [14,15], so many of the old slurs and FUD don't apply anymore. There are many indicators of GNU/Linux going mainstream for a lot of purposes, gaining at the expense of UNIX in the back room [16] and Windows on the desktop/main room [17,18]. Its security advantage (no back doors for starters) sure is helping [19], despite some fear-mongering [20]. It should not be shocking that funding goes towards independent publications that exclusively cover GNU/Linux [21] rather than troll GNU/Linux proponents for hits. The operating systems attracts people young [22] and old [23], seeding new branches [24,25] and gaining lots of positive publicity in the corporate press [26], not just sites of GNU/Linux advocates [27].

Those who somehow insist that GNU/Linux makes no progress (those people do exist) are unhinged from facts simply because the "G" word and "L" words are spoken less often than "Android" or "Chromebooks", for example. This has actually evolved to become a very common FUD argument -- something along the "Chrome OS is not really Linux" (even though it certainly is and Microsoft's response speaks volumes).

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. A Very Linux Christmas


  2. Paint an old toy for Christmas, revive an old PC with Linux.


  3. Linux Nerd New Year's Resolutions
  4. I have no intention of ending my relationships with Linux


  5. 2013: A Linux Christmas
    Sales information for the 2013 holidays shows another successful season for Amazon. That's no surprise. What may surprise some is how often Linux-powered electronics appeared at the top of Amazon buyers' list.


  6. Linux Top 3: Fedora Heisenbug, Sabayon 14.01 Adds Steam and Linux Mint 16 KDE


  7. Linux Top 3: SteamOS, Chromebooks and Ubuntu Edge


  8. Linux Top 3: RHEL 6.5, openSUSE 13.1 and Linux 3.13 RC1


  9. Linux is Everything. We show you exactly where
    ”Linux is Everywhere. From Space Stations to Microwave Ovens, Linux powers everything.” You might have heard that a lot and have always wondered ” Is that just a phrase or is it actually true ? “ Be assured, it is true. World’s biggest companies use Linux in one way or another but you are not going to believe unless I take names. Well, get ready for a roller coaster ride across the globe where I show you where and how Linux is used


  10. Chromebooks Find Success Over the Holidays
    ...while market research findings have been very bleak for PCs and PC equipment makers, Chromebooks--portable computers based on Google's Chrome OS platform--have continued to sell, although we continue to see stories online like "Why there's no good reason to buy a Chromebook." Just recently, a bunch of big hardware makers have either delivered Chromebooks or announced plans to deliver them. HP, Lenovo, Acer and Samsung are among vendors with sub-$300 Chromebooks, and Dell is about to join the ranks. But debate has swirled over whether the devices are really selling well.


  11. Chromebooks charge into business market, capture 20% of commercial notebooks
    Sales of Chromebooks exploded from basically nothing in 2012 to more than 20 percent of the U.S. commercial PC market, analyst firm NPD reported on Monday, while Windows PCs and Macs remained flat at best.

    NPD estimated that, throughout all of 2013, 14.4 million desktops, notebooks, and tablets were sold through U.S. commercial channels, typically resellers. That compares to 16.4 million PCs, overall, sold in the U.S. during the third quarter alone--excluding tablets, according to IDC. All told, about 46.2 million PCs have been sold in the U.S. during 2013, IDC found.


  12. Oh Those Pesky Netbooks!


  13. Dell Builds New Linux Network Operating System
    The new Dell Networking N-series includes new silicon, hardware chassis and a new Linux-based operating system. The new switches include the N2000 and N3000, both 1 GbE switches with 10 GbE uplinks. Dell's refreshed campus portfolio competes in a highly competitive space dominated by Cisco, with HP and Juniper also pushing hard for market share.


  14. How Docker turned intricate Linux code into developer pixie dust
    It’s based on open-source technology that emerged in the mid-2000s — Linux containers, which run isolated applications on a single physical server. But a company called Docker has made the technology easier to implement and far more useful. Through Docker, the Linux container has blossomed into a tool that helps developers build one application and easily move it into a testing environment and then a production environment, and then from one cloud to another, all without modifying the code.


  15. The Linux Software Store Conundrum
    In this arena, I see Steam as the clear winner here. And if we can get Steam ramped up in distributing paid applications that people actually want to use – not just the limited paid title library for Linux we have now – the options could be limitless.


  16. Increasing interest in Linux technologies continues to drive Unix to Linux migration


  17. Goodbye, Win XP - Hello, Linux?


  18. Microsoft Windows vs Linux


  19. Build Your Own Simple Linux Banking Tool


  20. New Worm, RHEL Risk Report, and a $99 Supercomputer


  21. Indiegogo being used to fund Linux and free software-focused magazine Linux Voice
    Unlike some Indiegogo projects, Linux Voice has chosen to roll with a flex funding campaign. That means if they don’t reach their goal, they won’t be keeping the funds. That seems highly unlikely at this point: the community has already responded with more than €£62,000 ($101,624) in pledges. With three weeks left to collect just over €£27,000 ($44,255) more, Linux Voice certainly looks like a lock.


  22. The People Who Support Linux: Starting Over as a Linux SysAdmin
    “Linux adoption is exploding. It's a great operating system, not just in the server world, but also on the desktop,” he said. “I really love using it, and after I graduate I would like to get a Linux-based job.”


  23. The Graying of the Linux Kernel Community
    There are few things more gratifying to those of us here in the Linux blogosphere than seeing another user give the proprietary world the boot and make the switch to our favorite operating system.


  24. Genode 13.11 adds Qt5 QML, Linux TCP/ IP, FUSE file systems


  25. Out in the Open: Say Hello to the Apple of Linux OSes
    In 2006, Foré was fed up with Windows, and he switched to Linux, the open source operating system. But he didn’t just use the OS. Like so many others, he also helped improve the thing. He had no programming experience, but wanted to be involved in this famously communal project, so he designed a set of icons for the OS. And from there, he went to work on a desktop theme called Elementary.


  26. Pros and Cons of using Linux


  27. Reglue Seeks ’12 Geeks of Christmas’
    When I read on Monday that my friend Ken Starks had come-up with the 12 Geeks of Christmas idea for his Reglue project, my first thought was “what a wonderful idea.”

    In case you don’t know, Reglue is a nonprofit run by Starks down in Texas that refurbishes old computers, loads them up with GNU/Linux and the necessary software, then gives them to school age children who’s parents can’t afford a decent computer.

    When you think about it, this not only gives kids who can’t afford it a much needed computer for their school work, it also gives them the added advantage of learning to use an operating system other than Windows or OS X while being opened-up to the possibilities of free and open source software. I can’t help but wonder how many of tomorrow’s FOSS developers are being nurtured by Starks and his Reglue project just by dint of learning their way around Linux.



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