FOSS Week in Review
A few months back I was thinking that reporting on FOSS wasn’t as fun as it once was. As a matter of fact, it seemed like nothing was happening, except on the enterprise front — which is usually about as exciting to follow as watching a junior accountant at work. Holy moley, how quickly things have changed.
First it was SCO, which after finally and irrevocably losing its case against IBM and being laid in its final resting place, rose from the grave a month later covered with dirt, taking wooden steps with arms outstretched, mindlessly repeating in the soulless voice that’s unique to zombies, “Appeal! Appeal!” When asked, “On what grounds?” the SCO zombie doesn’t seem to hear, but just keeps repeating the same word blindly and without reason. “Appeal! Appeal!”
Then there was the twelve hour scare, when news was leaked that Canonical and its newfound buddy Microsoft were bringing Ubuntu to Windows. At first look, that turned out to be something of a non-story, as the Windows version of the Linux-distro-that-would-be-Windows comes without just about everything you might expect to find in a GNU/Linux distribution. What you get, basically, is access to Ubuntu’s implementation of the Bash shell, which we now might call MS-Linux-DOS.
Don’t be too quick to make this a non-story only of interest to developers. When reading Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols’ account on Wednesday, when he wrote about WSL I began to suspect that this might only be the beginning of yet another Redmond scheme.
WSL, or Windows Subsystem for Linux, was quietly placed into Windows 10 back in January. Here’s what Dustin Kirkland, with Canonical’s Ubuntu Product and Strategy team, has to say about it: “Here, we’re talking about bit-for-bit, checksum-for-checksum Ubuntu ELF binaries running directly in Windows.”
Just my observations and opinions on this whole Windows / Ubuntu thing.
Now, as I see it, I….being a Linux user for quite some time now, have found just about everything I’ve ever needed in the repos of the distros I use, therefore I saw never a need to return to Windows to use something else. This is not to say that there aren’t those who might need something in the world of Windows that is not available in the FOSS Universe, and sometimes? its not that it isn’t “offered”, its that some people are so stuck in their ways they “refuse” to seek out alternatives. but that’s another story for another time. As I was saying, in regards to this “blending” of Linux with Windows, had this been the year 1994…..1997…….even 1999?….this might have been great and awesome news, but it seems to me that ever since being snubbed by the Microsoft elite, and having to CREATE their own apps….packages….programs…and interfaces, that Microsoft has become irrelevant to the growth and propagation of Linux to the masses. Now?….all of a sudden “Microsoft Loves Linux?..hhmmmmm. I don’t buy it, I think instead that Microsoft has FINALLY realized that Linux-users are not going ANYWHERE, that a lot MORE people are turning to open source software because of its ease-of-use, it’s ability to be integrated anywhere (from smartphones to ATM’s!) and its non-existent financial obligation. So now they want to “infuse” themselves with SOME form of Linux so that they can “claim” they’re a loving supporter of all things open source, is this an honest truth or a marketing ploy designed to get more people who are looking at open source to jump on board the gravy-train? I for one already use the Ubuntu shell on my UBUNTU LINUX DESKTOP, so there’s really NO LOGICAL REASON I should be looking to “play” with Ubuntu on Windows….sometimes people are so concerned with whether or not they COULD do something, that they never consider whether they SHOULD! (yes…a stolen line from Jurassic Park!) f we really NEEDED Ubuntu’s shell in Windows….surely we would have found a way by now….so to all the Linux-ers out there? don’t be lulled into a false sense of Kumbaya-Love-Peace-And-Hairgrease, keep a sharp eye out for anything that starts to look “weird” in your Ubuntu releases….and don’t’ fail for that “we’re just trying something out” either! If it looks odd, either REMOVE it or “dump the distro”! Because if you let it remain and foster?…they’ll assume it’s something everyone wants!….LoL! Hahaha! (Yes. I know I sound like one of those who wear a Tin Foil Hat in their basement which is lined with wax and cellophane, but things always start “small” and grow [like mushrooms!] in the dark and un-noticed, until?…it’s noticeable!) Freedom Forever!!