Linux & FOSS Predictions for 2015

You can tell it’s the holiday season — a lot of people are focusing more on the guy with the red suit who looks quite a bit like Jon ‘maddog’ Hall than they are on digital matters. This also is the time of year, naturally, where pundits make their predictions for the following year.

However, I should admit something here. Truth in advertising: I don’t have a good record in predicting the future. I have a hard enough time predicting what to wear the following day — oh, right: clothes. But Linux and FOSS being, well, Linux and FOSS, these projections are as good as any prediction now being foisted on the FOSS public by the army of digital pundits out there.

So what’s going to happen in 2015?

A lot. Like…

This is the year: Finally, 2015 will absolutely, positively, without a doubt be the year of the Linux deskt…oh, never mind.

Another major studio caves: Fundamentalists operating under the banner of GOD (Guardians Opposing systemD) crack into the servers of the major motion picture studio distributing the film “The Lennart Poettering Story.” The crackers release embarrassing data about the studio and threaten to cause digital havoc with theaters upon the release of the film. Chain and independent theaters will a.) realize there’s such a film out there in the first place before ignoring it, and b.) some theaters will get back at the studio for withholding the film by showing “Revolution OS” instead. Meanwhile, development of, and improvements to, systemd go on as scheduled.

“Free Beer” is now a reality: In 2015, the Free Software Foundation expands, finally, into brewing. Walking the walk after talking the talk for so many years, the FSF has always had free software covered, so finally they brew Free Beer (cc), a fine Boston lager with a recipe that is released under the GPL. While free as in freedom only — it’s comparably priced with other fine beers — all those free-as-in-freedom microbreweries can fork the brew under their own label, so long as they release their recipes under the GPL.

Linux Mint goes upscale: Not to be outdone by the FSF and looking to appeal to more cosmopolitan tastes, Linux Mint will change over the course of the year to something a little more contemporary and stylish. It becomes Linux Merlot, with a bouquet that resonates from the north side of the vineyard. The distro will have a more celebratory nature and it will go a lot better with most cheeses.

But wait, there’s more: Linux Mint will fork into a smaller distro. Developers who don’t drink wine, or anything else alcoholic for that matter, will fork the distro and make a version that will only run on thin clients, making it… say it with me …Linux Thin Mint. Monty Python fans continue to roll on the floor in hilarious laughter saying “better get a bucket” at the mere reference to the new version.

Manjaro makes some changes: Manjaro, a Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system, finally loses the “man” baggage and gets in touch with its feminine side. This distro renames itself Womanjaro and becomes a more reasonable, nurturing distro which asks for directions. Unconfirmed rumors rumble over the course of the year of developers forking a version geared toward elementary school students called Childjaro.

OLPC releases a farm version: The One Laptop Per Child project, still going strong in 2015, provides a new version of the nearly indestructable XO laptop which is specifically geared toward children in farming communities. According to the newly hired Farm Version Lead Developer Old McDonald, rather than calling it the XO, this version is called the EIEIO.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, yes, before I forget…

Sugar on a Stick reaches for new horizons: Sugar on a Stick, otherwise known as the Sugar Learning Platform, leaves the realm of simple USB sticks and thumb drives. SoaS will provide its desktop atop Fedora in other ways, like Sugar on Whole Wheat with a side of chips, Sugar on the Edge (for those who like to live dangerously), and Sugar on Top of Old Smoky, all covered in snow (with a fork which is all covered in cheese).

Again, all of this may happen, or it may not…

I’ll be back next week, but in the meantime, have a great holiday.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero, a.k.a. Larry the Free Software Guy, is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate. He is involved in several FOSS projects and serves as the publicity chair for the Southern California Linux Expo. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero