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Google propels Linux to the top
- coreymgilmore 13y agoI do agree with what the article states, but I feel the author misses on a key point. Google was based on linux and grew around it. As Google grew, they needed more linux boxes and started to develop more. They built their entire infrastructure around linux OSes and contributed most of their knowledge back to the open source world. Examples: MapReduce, GFS,... Google build it for internal, people redevelop for open source, and therefore Linux grows in usage. However, the growth in Linux could also be attributed to the boom in software/app development which theses days mostly runs on Linux anyway. Think of a big-name web or app company that doesn't use linux. Not too many I can think of.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- CanSpice 13y agoI'm not quite sure what AngularJS, a JavaScript framework, has to do with Linux.
- coreymgilmore 13y agotouche...removed.
- sebnukem2 13y agoWhat is the Linux market share across all platforms?
- coreymgilmore 13y agoTake a look at this wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system... Basically: desktop wise linux is small, but smartphone/tablet it is huge. Also, Mark Shuttleworth closed Bug #1 for Ubuntu: Microsoft has a majority market share. It really depends on how you count market share though. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1
- jessaustin 13y agoISTM that bug should not have been closed. From the bug: Steps to repeat: 1. Visit a local PC store. 2. Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software. These conditions still obtain.
- coreymgilmore 13y agoThis is true. Very, very true. But then again, go visit a Verizon/ATT store and count the amount of Android vs. Windows phones. Its all about how you count market share.
- jessaustin 13y agoSure the market has changed so that PC numbers aren't quite so important. But even Android phones have some "proprietary software", don't they?
- scholia 13y agoAndroid is really a Dalvik VM that runs Java bytecode. You could port it to any OS, and BlueStacks runs it on Windows http://www.bluestacks.com/ http://www.bluestacks.com/
- beagle3 13y agoWhile this is mostly true in the US (especially if "local store" is Best Buy), things are reasonable compared to when this bug was opened: - WalMart occasionally sells linux boxes - When I lived in New York, B&H often had a laptop-with-linux available. Although I agree that in both cases, the selection, when it is available, is small and often limited to just one model. However - Outside the US, most stores will sell you a "naked" or "freedos" machine, and not charge you for the windows license. It is, in fact, illegal in many countries to force you into a "hardware+software" bundle. Yay for USA freedom. (For corporations, that is)
- jordigh 13y agoMeh, Android is a locked-down OS that happens to use the Linux kernel. ChromeOS is a crippled internet-only OS that happens to use the Linux kernel. Sure, this makes a lot of people have "Linux" in their hands, sort of, hidden away where they'll never find it and where it doesn't matter. I'm not sure this is much of an "open source" victory.
- sounds 13y agoIt's fairly straightforward to root your Android handset. For a ChromeOS device it can be even easier: just download an installer, turn off the physical safety switch or screw, and you're running a full linux distro. Still you have a point that it's hidden away. That could be seen as a plus for some: they don't want a Gnome or KDE experience. ChromeOS appears to be filling a real market niche.
- _cbb1 13y agoThe fact that you need to root Android negates the meaning of using a Linux OS.
- raldi 13y agoThat's like saying the fact that you need to occasionally run sudo negates the meaning of using Linux.
- pachydermic 13y agoExcept for the fact that sudo is already built into your system. What? Rooting most likely voids your warranty and is definitely nontrivial to non-technical people. I have rooted my phone and installed cyanogenmod before and I wouldn't call it easy. I can't imagine average people going through that process voluntarily or without screwing it up. Yeah, to people like us it might not be that bad, but to your every day user it just doesn't make any sense to do. That's a horrible analogy, sorry. I have to agree with some other commenters here that Google using Linux as a base for android and chromeOS doesn't do much for the Linux community (not nothing, though). It really doesn't matter what kernel they are using. It's all the stuff that's build on top which matters... maybe there's something to calling it "GNU/Linux" after all - just so we could avoid misleading and misinformed commentary like this blog post.
- Pxtl 13y agoI'm constantly surprised at how Google drags its feet with getting Android out to more uses. I mean, we've seen 3rd-party hardware manufacturers sticking Android on All-In-One PCs, netbooks, HDMI sticks, mini-PCs, video-game consoles, etc. Even Android support for tablets came out well after manufacturers had released hundreds of Android-based iPad clones. In spite of its various UI failings, android is well-positioned to be the next Windows, and with it the Play Store could take over the world. And yet Google sits in their hands and sticks to phones and tablets.
- noir_lord 13y agoMy experience is any time I've seen Android on anything not a phone or tablet it has pretty much sucked. I think splintering the platform before they are ready might be risky. Also you mention that Android support only came out for tablets after manufacturers had proven the demand for them...seems like a good idea to me.
- Zigurd 13y agoAndroid is already 60% of all interactive devices: http://www.telirati.com/2014/03/who-makes-how-many-of-things-we-code-for.html http://www.telirati.com/2014/03/who-makes-how-many-of-things... Google was correct to focus on dominating handsets. If you dominate handsets, you dominate devices as a whole. Android also has a very strong position in embedded UI in "appliance" devices. There is an argument to made that Google sucks at marketing tablets, and gave iPad too big a lead in the market. But overall execution is hard to find fault with.
- Pxtl 13y agoDevices sold each year is not the same as devices in use at any given moment. Because of the break-neck pace and carrier subsidies, consumers replace smartphones faster than anything else. So obviously you're going to see fewer set-top boxes, portable gaming devices, notebooks, etc. devices being sold. But Google doesn't care how many Android devices are sold, because they don't make a dime from sales. They want the OS to be used.
- __abc 13y agoUgh ... the prose and overall writing style .... not for me.
- seabrookmx 13y agoAnd the content.. Android is the most popular mobile platform?!? Who knew?!? /s
- Wohui 13y agoYeah, I couldn't find the words initially for why he rubs me the wrong way. Self grandeur and verbosity can be tolerated. Fanboyism can be tolerated. But verbosity from fanboyism (for a kernel)... well....
- _cbb1 13y agoLinux is easily the most used OS for servers. Linux has been at the top for awhile, just because the consumer doesn't run the OS natively doesn't mean that they are not using Linux machine. I disagree that google "propelled" linux to the top.
- cgh 13y agoNo, Windows is if you count individual deployments. Any big enterprise runs countless Windows file and print servers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Servers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system... (look at the second, smaller table)
- ForHackernews 13y agoAndroid/Linux is not the same as GNU/Linux. From the perspective of users, a proprietary userland with a free kernel is not meaningfully different than an entire proprietary OS. By this article's logic, OSX is a massive victory for FLOSS because, hey, it uses the XNU kernel.
- Shebanator 13y agoTrue enough, but the article's main premise was that Google's products propelled Linux to the top of the OS heap. That only indirectly benefits FLOSS.
- ForHackernews 13y ago> the top of the OS heap Fair, but again to be specific, Linux isn't an OS--it's a kernel. When people talk about "Linux" as an OS, they typically mean some variant of GNU/Linux: RedHat, Ubuntu, Debian, etc. Android (as promoted by Google) is not a member of that club. Maybe ASOP is, but more and more of Google's development effort is shifting to Play Services, and away from ASOP.
- rkuykendall-com 13y agoI'm surprised nobody has mentioned the next big Linux distributer: Valve. I had my doubts about how well SteamOS would do, until recently when the Unreal and Cry engines were opened to licensing and both touted SteamOS support as a major current or upcoming feature. People seem to be taking this seriously.
- FD3SA 13y agoMark my words, SteamOS will do for the desktop what Android did for mobile.
- maguirre 13y agoI hope you are right. There are two reasons I still interact with windows: 1- Work 2- Games
- Zigurd 13y agoThere is an interesting symmetry there: ChromeOS is taking traditional notebook form factor devices away from Windows. Steam OS might do the same for gaming PCs. With the high price of current-generation consoles, people will increasingly ask "Why not a PC?"
- jsnell 13y ago> [ChromeOS] is gaining ground faster than any operating system ever has, thanks to dirt-cheap hardware and an amazingly simple interface. Citation seriously needed on that. I'm not aware of any sales figures on ChromeOS, but at least the usage numbers still appear pretty pathetic, 3 years after the launch of the first commercial devices. By what useful and publicly available metric would ChromeOS be growing faster than any OS ever?
- cryptos 13y agoWhat a bullshit! The user has no idea that there is a linux under the hood and the user cannot use the power and freedom of linux. Would Android be a proprietary system nobody would care (besides some cyganogenmod users). So Android is not about linux from the end users view point.