The empire strikes back

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 08 May 2007 07:50

Opinion and Analysis

The announcement has also put one Mark Shuttleworth properly in his place. This is what Shuttleworth wrote in his blog after the announcement about Ubuntu: "This is a significant milestone, not just for Ubuntu but for every flavour of Linux and the free software community as a whole. While there are already a number of excellent companies like System76 offering Linux pre-installed, Dell represents “the industry”, and it’s very important for all of us that the industry sees a future for Linux on the desktop."

Sure, Mark. The industry sees a future for Linux on the desktop, indeed. There's a message here from Microsoft that little people should not mess with the big boys. There is space for only one 800-pound gorilla and it sure isn't Canonical.

Microsoft is by far the biggest player in the industry. It is also the most paranoid. The only way it knows to keep its products on top of the sales list is by knocking off competitors, using any means that will work.

The spread of Linux on the desktop is not going to come from the efforts of any big industry player; it is only going to come from concerted efforts by smaller players. Linux became what it is today by such efforts and it isn't going anywhere by any other methods. There's a certain heritage, a certain breeding, in everything and you can't get rid of your genes. No matter that a number of people would love to see that happen.