This MS vs Ubuntu video shows what Ubuntu can do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ&NR=1

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In my humble opinion, as much as the new devices - such as the iPad, etc - are aesthetically pleasing (and make no mistake my iPad is on pre-order - NZ takes a bit long sometimes!), they are not really anything new. Fair enough, somehow Apple manages to turn existing ideas into really cool looking (and functional) appliances (just look at the iPod). That doesn’t mean that they ‘created’ it though. That’s a bit like saying Ferrari invented the motor vehicle.

To a large extent (imho) we are just coming out of a consolidation phase wrt computing - in that there are no real strides anymore in terms of computing hardware (if anything we are going backwards); applications (facebook seems to be the webs’ pinnacle of success - how scary is that?); interfaces (remember when GUI was the catchphrase and we were caught up with looks over functionality [*cough* Vista *cough*]).

I think that we are now going into the ‘ideas’ phase of Computing - where focus is on things like Communication, Virtualization, Standardization and Actualization.

To compare to ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs), we have now solidified our computing base (Needs), and have even fought a hard won battle to gain our ‘Self-Esteem’ (the oohs and aahs of interface).

To continue this comparison: We are now probably just entering our ‘Self-actualization’ phase, where the computing infrastructure (OS, interface) is a given [we expect it to work]. We are now able to focus on how computers/technology can enrich our lives on a daily, non-invasive manner - more than likely via appliances (rather than PCs). Who knows, maybe ‘wet-ware’ appliances (integrated into our bodies - ala ‘eButlers’ - Peter F Hamilton, Pandoras Star) are not far off.

To tie off the Linux knot: Linux is the driving force behind the ‘Needs’. It has allowed us the freedom to dream, knowing that we do not need to wait for the release of yet another bloated OS, necessitating yet another round of hardware catchup. [netbooks only came about because of Linux, at which point MS woke up and dusted off XP [which it had binned], sowing up the commercial market in a Mugabian manner. For me to now install Linux on a netbook, I first have to remove the Windows XP that I had no choice but to pay for…]

Linux therefore is our Breathe, our Food - fulfilling our basic needs and allowing us to concentrate on Friendship, Intimacy and Family (social networks), leading to self-actualization. [and it does all this without a license fee :-)]

Linux is not leading the charge, probably ’cause it’s too busy doing everything that is required to support the armies. Should it now also lead them into battle against the windmills?

“What a man can be, he must be.” - Long Live Linux

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It’s easy to deride massive corporations for being slow on innovation, and for the most part, you’d be spot on. Except for the last few months, with Apple and Microsoft gearing up to dominate a whole new market - and in the midst of all this, there seems to be no sign of the fringe communities that have been given absolute freedom to create (through Linux).

And yes, it’s very likely that in the long term, Google or Microsoft will release low-cost cloud-based computers where the browser is the OS, and is Linux (or something else as open and free).

But again, that’s not what I’m talking about. Fast forward through the, what, last 20 years of computing history, we’re still using mice and keyboards and taskbars and menu dialogs and files and folders.

Our save icons are little floppies, our documents are represented with bits of paper, and we’re organizing them in ways analogous to the real world.

That was my question. When are we moving away from that? Away from the 1990s and into the 2010s, where everything’s Cloud and Semantic and Related. And why isn’t the open source community , the community with no overheads, no rules or mandates, leading the charge?

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Running most of the server applications (including this blog most likely), as well as most of the commercial hardware - from routers, to SAN’s, to media players, even to the detachable screens of laptops. The fact that the kernel is essentially free (and with a small install footprint), means that the hardware vendors are using it in their dedicated appliances - not that they would breathe a word of it to anyone.

Everyone seems to forget that Linux is pre-dominantly a server OS (with a GUI simply as an application). As such it does everything required of it, and on the most basic hardware (some NAS media servers run 800Mhz with only 256Mg’s memory). The fact that it also then provides 99% of the average pc users requirements for free - is an added bonus.

Mac simply shows us what can be done with freeBSD, and of course bucketloads of money to be spent on the interface.

Mark Shuttleworth (with Ubuntu) has done an awesome job of providing the average pc user with an alternative desktop OS. At the same he offers long term support for fuly functional Linux Server software. In return he gets…what exactly?

Ultimately though Cloud Computing is going rid us all of all the current bloated hardware. We are going to end up with minimum spec hardware running only a browser, with all our work done online. No prizes for guessing what that OS is going to be?

The bottom line: Linux is alive and well, just quietly knuckling down and doing the actual work.

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