Linux - a disruptive technology? (IT Pro)

Linux - a disruptive technology? (IT Pro)

Posted Jul 17, 2008 21:56 UTC (Thu) by pr1268 (subscriber, #24648)
Parent article: Linux - a disruptive technology? (IT Pro)

It's not just Linux, nor the GPL, nor the efforts of Red Hat, Novell/SUSE, Canonical/Ubuntu, Debian, or any other distro. It's a combination of all of these, plus timing was a factor (the GNU project needed a kernel in August 1991, and guess who piped up on the mailing list one day?). Add in a lot of momentum and Linus' abilities in programming, operating system theory, and interpersonal skills (I've mentioned these before), and this may explain much of Linux's success.

Linux seems to transcend any one software engineering paradigm, business model, or technology. It's the synergy of a lot of separate factors working in concert. Just my perceptions and thoughts.

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I couldn't agree more. Also, the popularization of the Internet has played (*is* playing) a
very important role.
Sites like this very one often mark the difference between a thriving ecosystem/community and
a dead project.