On Thu, 2006-11-16 at 10:31 -0500, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> And yet, if all of a sudden magically for some reason - every single
> electronic device across the entire spectrum from embedded systems to
> desktop computers, laptops, routers, webservers, big iron systems and
> other systems out there all immediately ceased to function by magical
> means in the entire world - all on the same split second...
>
> I would speculate 99.9% of the world would be well aware of it, and not
> simply because of mainstream media reporting on the issue. Rather, the
> Internet would more or less cease to function, and all sorts of
> businesses around the world would be totally screwed.
>
> So your implication that because 99.9% of the world's population is
> unaware of Linux means that Linux has not changed the world is seriously
> flawed.
No, the implication just recognizes that Linux is just one
variety of operating system and a subset of unix-like systems
at that.
> There's no question Linux has changed the world in a very major way, and
> like I've claimed above, if Linux stopped working simultaneously
> everywhere in the world all of a sudden, this fact would be
> unquestionably clear to anyone who has any doubt.
It is popular of course, but if it didn't exist it would not have
left a void. The *bsd kernels could have been adapted to all
the same things - and perhaps we would even be better off for
it. It is impossible to say now what might have happened even
if it had been a *bsd version that was the first user-friendly
CD distribution instead of RedHat's. We might be far more
advanced at this point if development had been focused on the
more mature existing university code instead of being split by
the introduction of Linux.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
