LINUX is "evolving everywhere," as one reporter from IDG put it some days ago [1]. A colleague said that "your next network operating system is Linux" [2] as if Linux is not yet a common platform in networking (it is). When it comes to mission-critical systems, it is usually the platform of choice and GNU is often part of the system (not always).
Microsoft can go on raving about Windows for submarines and all that marketing nonsense (the US Army favours Linux in equipment like drones, having abandoned Windows) and new reports [3,4] suggest that the US Navy's new $3.5 billion ship will be Linux-powered. Does this represent a strategic shift in the Navy? It's the US Navy which is also behind submarines, so is Windows on its way out? NSA back doors can't be good for anyone's security. ⬆
Related/contextual items from the news:
Mark Shuttleworth's recent closure of Ubuntu Linux bug No. 1 ("Microsoft has a majority market share") placed a meaningful, if somewhat controversial, exclamation point on how far Linux has come since Linus Torvalds rolled out the first version of the OS in 1991 as a pet project.
Networking is the last bastion of proprietary systems, but Cumulus Networks sees a near future where Linux powers network hardware by default
The USS Zumwalt will be a floating data center—armed with missiles and robot guns.