Bogus Comparison
Posted Dec 7, 2004 20:28 UTC (Tue) by
ciunas (guest, #26500)
Parent article:
The Linux Kernel's Fuzzy Future (InformationWeek)
The article's author is making the same mistake as many journalists -
confusing the kernel with the distribution.
Sure a Proprietary OS vendor can trumpet 5 year plans and can discuss
the details of the next Great Leap Forward. The issue is that these tend
to list OS features, some of which required kernel enhancements.
Similarly eatures that get contributed to the Linux kernel tend to be end
up there because they enable user land features that will keep the user
happy - be that user Aunt Tilly or a Google PhD.
So the same applies to a Linux distro, Sun and Microsoft. Of course
the GNU/Linux development process is very different to the other two
examples. The point is that for a fair comparison you must compare the
development planning process for Microsoft Windows with that for the
GNU/Linux system as a whole - not just the kernel.
For an attempt at a proper comparison the writer should have talked to
people like leading distributions, to major application developers in a
position to influence kernel and system development (Oracle etc.), to the
average hacker with itchy fingers.
The planning committee for Microsoft consults market research and makes
great plans that the marketing department love. The path that Linux takes
is demand driven - not marketing driven. It is determined by a
heterogeneous bunch, but in the end it provides what the people who
really use the system really need. And with a lot fewer broken promises.
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