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This story is important because in the Western society something that is not "mainstream" is not considered a success. You don't see Linux on a lot of consumer

This story is important because in the Western society something that is not "mainstream" is not considered a success. You don't see Linux on a lot of consumer devices where people graphically interact with the OS and hence Linux as an OS is deemed "not mainstream" and hence deemed "not a success". These stories will be unnecessary only when society moves past this shallowness and I just don't see that happening any time soon. BTW, my favorite "Linux is awesome" moment? Watching an inflight system in front of my seat in a Delta flight reboot..

peterkelly 14y ago
> You don't see Linux on a lot of consumer devices where people graphically interact with the OS Umm, Android?
- rogerchucker 14y ago
  Nobody in the mainstream identifies it with Linux.
  - peterkelly 14y ago
    Does that matter?
    - rogerchucker 14y ago
      Yes it does
dfc 14y ago
Computational physics platforms are not "mainstream" products in the context of western society. That being said within the scientific community Linux is certainly "mainstream."
- rogerchucker 14y ago
  Scientific community is not "mainstream" either because it projects "nerdiness" and "geekiness", both of which are associated with negative connotations and don't fit into the anti-intellectual narrative that is broadly perpetuated by the media.
kinleyd 14y ago
I'd tend to agree with you in that we could see it as 'every little helps'. Positive publicity never hurt, especially in view of the desktop market which remains stubbornly proprietary. I wonder when Linux will go mainstream there.
endeavor 14y ago
That's more like a "Linux is mainstream" moment. If it was truly a "Linux is awesome" moment, Linux would have given you more legroom and a free beer.
- jeltz 14y ago
  Linux is indeed mainstream but as rogerchucker many measure the success of Linux from the success of desktop Linux.
jolohaga 14y ago
Going to the moon was a huge success that didn't need cheerleading from a faction of operating system fanatics. The success here is the science. The machinery is irrelevant.
exDM69 14y ago
Calling Linux "not mainstream" is fair enough. Calling it "not a success" is downright wrong and misguided. Linux is successful beyond the wildest dreams of anyone. No-one would have believed back in the early 1990's that an open source Unix system would one day become as big as Linux is. Linux powers Google, Facebook, Twitter, and a lot many other popular web sites. Linux is used on Android and a few lesser known mobile systems. Many if not most of the supercomputers in the Top 500 list are powered by Linux. Hell, measured by the number of CPU's it runs on, Linux may even be the most widely used operating system today and it's been steadily increasing. (HN: anyone have any stats on this one?) Go check your facts. > BTW, my favorite "Linux is awesome" moment? Watching an inflight system in front of my seat in a Delta flight reboot.. We've all seen a public display with a rebooted Linux setup or stuck in bootloader. However, Windows blue screen is a lot more common.
- rogerchucker 14y ago
  What part of Linux "is not deemed" a success did you not understand?

peterkelly 14y ago

> You don't see Linux on a lot of consumer devices where people graphically interact with the OS Umm, Android?

rogerchucker 14y ago
Nobody in the mainstream identifies it with Linux.
- peterkelly 14y ago
  Does that matter?
  - rogerchucker 14y ago
    Yes it does

dfc 14y ago

Computational physics platforms are not "mainstream" products in the context of western society. That being said within the scientific community Linux is certainly "mainstream."

rogerchucker 14y ago
Scientific community is not "mainstream" either because it projects "nerdiness" and "geekiness", both of which are associated with negative connotations and don't fit into the anti-intellectual narrative that is broadly perpetuated by the media.

kinleyd 14y ago

I'd tend to agree with you in that we could see it as 'every little helps'. Positive publicity never hurt, especially in view of the desktop market which remains stubbornly proprietary. I wonder when Linux will go mainstream there.

endeavor 14y ago

That's more like a "Linux is mainstream" moment. If it was truly a "Linux is awesome" moment, Linux would have given you more legroom and a free beer.

jeltz 14y ago
Linux is indeed mainstream but as rogerchucker many measure the success of Linux from the success of desktop Linux.

jolohaga 14y ago

Going to the moon was a huge success that didn't need cheerleading from a faction of operating system fanatics. The success here is the science. The machinery is irrelevant.

exDM69 14y ago

Calling Linux "not mainstream" is fair enough. Calling it "not a success" is downright wrong and misguided. Linux is successful beyond the wildest dreams of anyone. No-one would have believed back in the early 1990's that an open source Unix system would one day become as big as Linux is. Linux powers Google, Facebook, Twitter, and a lot many other popular web sites. Linux is used on Android and a few lesser known mobile systems. Many if not most of the supercomputers in the Top 500 list are powered by Linux. Hell, measured by the number of CPU's it runs on, Linux may even be the most widely used operating system today and it's been steadily increasing. (HN: anyone have any stats on this one?) Go check your facts. > BTW, my favorite "Linux is awesome" moment? Watching an inflight system in front of my seat in a Delta flight reboot.. We've all seen a public display with a rebooted Linux setup or stuck in bootloader. However, Windows blue screen is a lot more common.

rogerchucker 14y ago
What part of Linux "is not deemed" a success did you not understand?