Hobart (Australia) - Speaking to DistroWatch Weekly, Linus Torvalds recently rejected the Linux community's desire to consolidate Linux into one or two distributions, citing that even though Linux as an OS has failed to capture a significant OS market share foothold, the need to be free (in multiple distributions) is not just a good thing, but something that's absolutely required.
Torvalds is quoted as saying, "I think multiple distributions aren't just a good thing, I think it's something absolutely required." Torvalds says there are hundreds of distros, and a lot of them are really for niche markets, and the industry need that - because different markets simply have different requirements, and no single distro will take care of them all.
Torvalds has stated that having multiple distributions each looking at and concentrating on specific issues allows the market to decide which avenue is best. He also says "having multiple players just keeps everybody honest, and allows you to compare them."
See DistroWatch Weekly for the full interview.
Opinion
YES! YES! YES!
I am going to speak now as Rick C. Hodgin, human being, and not in any capacity via TG Daily. This is my opinion, and not the opinion of this website - I can assure you this is true.
This is so unbelievably what is needed right now. The various flavors of Linux, while often so amazingly confusing, are working to move into every area of hardware technology. Linux today runs on pieces of equipment that Windows doesn't even know exists. And I urge everybody out there to dump their current flavor of Windows and embrace this revolution taking place - even if it's only done in a secondary partition on your hard drive and only occasionally booted into. It is worth your time to learn about Linux today.
The Ubuntu Linux distribution is my personal favorite. It is a Debian-based derivative, which means it has a package manager allowing for easy installation and removal of new software programs. In addition, version 8.10 supports nearly all new hardware and allows for trial running by booting from the CD without having write access to any hard drives (meaning you can try it without even accidentally damaging your hard drive).
See the Ubuntu download page to obtain an 8.10 version in ISO format. And then use an ISO writer to create a CDR with the installation. From there, it will boot and once booted you can install if you want or simply restart the computer and go back into Windows.
See TG Daily's guide on How to Leave Redmond, WA in 24 hours - a now somewhat outdated (I may have to write an update) installation and tutorial on what Windows users might need to know when migrating from Windows to Linux.
The opinion expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Torvalds is quoted as saying, "I think multiple distributions aren't just a good thing, I think it's something absolutely required." Torvalds says there are hundreds of distros, and a lot of them are really for niche markets, and the industry need that - because different markets simply have different requirements, and no single distro will take care of them all.
Torvalds has stated that having multiple distributions each looking at and concentrating on specific issues allows the market to decide which avenue is best. He also says "having multiple players just keeps everybody honest, and allows you to compare them."
See DistroWatch Weekly for the full interview.
Opinion
YES! YES! YES!
I am going to speak now as Rick C. Hodgin, human being, and not in any capacity via TG Daily. This is my opinion, and not the opinion of this website - I can assure you this is true.
This is so unbelievably what is needed right now. The various flavors of Linux, while often so amazingly confusing, are working to move into every area of hardware technology. Linux today runs on pieces of equipment that Windows doesn't even know exists. And I urge everybody out there to dump their current flavor of Windows and embrace this revolution taking place - even if it's only done in a secondary partition on your hard drive and only occasionally booted into. It is worth your time to learn about Linux today.
The Ubuntu Linux distribution is my personal favorite. It is a Debian-based derivative, which means it has a package manager allowing for easy installation and removal of new software programs. In addition, version 8.10 supports nearly all new hardware and allows for trial running by booting from the CD without having write access to any hard drives (meaning you can try it without even accidentally damaging your hard drive).
See the Ubuntu download page to obtain an 8.10 version in ISO format. And then use an ISO writer to create a CDR with the installation. From there, it will boot and once booted you can install if you want or simply restart the computer and go back into Windows.
See TG Daily's guide on How to Leave Redmond, WA in 24 hours - a now somewhat outdated (I may have to write an update) installation and tutorial on what Windows users might need to know when migrating from Windows to Linux.
The opinion expressed in this article are solely those of the author.