[plug] Linux future

[Christian]

Bret Busby wrote:
> 
> Does the article at
> http://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/Ticker/D0F07A99109F062F4A256794001
> A6392?OpenDocument
> mean that Linux is going to go the same way as M$ Windows, where a
> person has to obtain a different version of Linux, for each
> application; one for a server, one for a workstation, one for
> notebooks, one for home applications, etc?

There's not a lot of details given in that article but I suspect the
answer to your question is "no, sort of."  I mean, everyone is already
running slightly different versions of Linux.  Anyone who compiles their
own kernel immediately has a kernel which not that many other people
would have and anyone who consciously chooses which packages to install
on their system is also customising it for their own needs.  That
doesn't even begin to touch upon tweaking of configuration files, source
code modifications etc. etc. The advantage of Linux is that you have the
flexibility to customise it to your own applications.

As for there being different kernels, there already are different
sections in the source tree for the different architectures.  If this
were further split up to improve support for targetting embedded
systems, server systems, workstations etc. then this would probably be a
good thing.  The key issue is that because of the licensing of the
software, you're not getting locked into doing things one particular way
and you can always adapt it to suit your exact situation.

While the article doesn't give details about exactly what Linus is
talking about, I wouldn't be panicing if I were you.

Regards,

Christian.

-- 
Tact is the ability to tell a man he has an open mind when he has a
hole in his head.