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Linux Desktop for the Masses is "10 Years" Away, Says Torvalds

Linux Desktop for the Masses is "10 Years" Away, Says Torvalds
By Jeremy Geelan
Article Rating:
January 19, 2004 12:00 AM EST
Reads:
 29,086

Speaking with Australian IT, Linus Torvalds says that, even though over the past 6 months big companies have shown interest in not just selling desktop Linux, but also using desktop Linux internally, he believes that "it's going to take, literally five to 10 years before 'normal users' start seeing Linux desktop.

But in what he calls "the technical space," desktop Linux is doing pretty well, says Torvalds. "Especially in companies that can support it already," he adds.

What else does Linus have to say? Here's a quick round-up:

On the 2.6 Kernel - in general

"So far it's been going pretty well, but so far the only people who've been using it have been fairly advanced users. So, big distributions switching over to the new kernel, that's a few months away. Judging from how it looks right now, everything is ready to go, but that's what you always think."


On the 2.6 Kernel - in particular

"One thing that 2.6 kernel is much better at is device management, and especially we've been working a lot, doing hot plugs - not just USB, but USB's an example of something people are aware of... figuring out what driver to load... and making it an experience that seems very obvious, but isn't."


On LInux in Little Devices

"I bought my wife one of those electronic picture frames... and only when I was uploading my pictures, the night before Mother's Day, I was uploading them and looked at the technical specifications and found out it ran Linux! That's much more fun than big machines."


On the SCO vs IBM Case

" It hasn't been that bothersome, but every once in a while, when they make some new claim, it really riles me - I mean they've literally claimed copyright on files I can prove I wrote personally, and that's very irritating. ... I'm just hoping it's going to finally come to a head soon, because it's just dragging on - it's been dragging on for something like eight months, and it's getting pretty tiresome."

Published January 19, 2004 – Reads 29,086
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More Stories By Jeremy Geelan

Jeremy Geelan is President & COO of Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of Cloud Expo's "Power Panels" on SYS-CON.TV.

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