5 ms·
Linus Torvalds once said: "If Microsoft ever starts developing apps for Linux, it means I won." Is this close enough?
by dserban 13y ago
Linus Torvalds once said: "If Microsoft ever starts developing apps for Linux, it means I won."
Is this close enough?
- Zikes 13y agoAlready happened with Skype.
- dhruvmittal 13y agoWhile it's true that they didn't drop support for Skype when they acquired it, and even continued to update it, what are the chances they'd have said "Hey, let's port skype to qt and put it on linux!" on their own?
- Zikes 13y agoI think the spirit of Linus's quote was that Microsoft wouldn't necessarily set out to do so, but eventually be forced to develop for Linux in some way whether they wanted to or not.
- _random_ 13y agoWon what? Besides Nokia is not really Microsoft and Android is not really a Linux, so the answer is probably "not really".
- leobelle 13y agoHow is Android "not really a Linux ? It runs the Linux kernel. That means it's Linux. No, it's not a distribution of GNU/Linux, but it's a Linux kernel. It's really using Linux. It's as Linux as Ubuntu, as Ubuntu also runs on a Linux kernel.
- pessimizer 13y agoWhy would anybody have cared about Linux except as an academic exercise if not for GNU? If there had been another properly licensed kernel before Linux, we would all be using GNU bolted on top of that. Linux has been great and Linus is a great steward, but Linux without GNU is a base for creating an OS, not an OS.
- RyanZAG 13y agoI really like GNU, but are you sure that it is GNU that has succeeded and not Linux? Linux + GNU = small marketshare Linux + Android = big marketshare So maybe without GNU, Linux would have gotten some other userland quicker and taken off faster? I don't think it's entirely fair to credit Linux's success to GNU at this point.
- pjmlp 13y ago> If there had been another properly licensed kernel before Linux, we would all be using GNU bolted on top of that. BSD?
- sampo 13y agoBSD was is a legal limbo between 1992–1994, and by then Linux had gained more popularity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi
- DrJokepu 13y agoIf uname(2) says it’s Linux, it has to be Linux.
- rcthompson 13y agocat >/bin/uname <<EOF #!/bin/sh echo Linux EOF chmod +x /bin/uname
- DrJokepu 13y agoI see your point; that being said, I was talking about the system call uname(2), not the command line utility uname(1). It's somewhat more difficult to fake that, you need to know your way around C the very least.
- bestdayever 13y ago>not really a linux I lol'd
- sliverstorm 13y agoBut what if we mostly just want to feel smug?
- rodgerd 13y agoMicrosoft have been submitting kernel patches for years now, you know.
- bnolsen 13y agokernel patches that directly benefit their own products, like making it easier to run virtual machines, etc. Not from the goodness and kindness of their wonderful, generous hearts.
- rodgerd 13y agoSo? The criteria wasn't "when Microsoft love Linux" the criteria was "when Microsoft feel compelled to support Linux."
- presty 13y agoWell, the quote does say "apps"
- brokenparser 13y agoWell then he already won 17 years ago when MSFT released NetShow player for Linux and some flavours of Unix. http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/apps/netshow_linux.html http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/apps/netshow_linux.html