open source operating systems

For all the alarmist (and I hope your wrong for all our sakes)

When the end of the world arrives and some sort of internet is still in place, will Microsoft still be around to authenticate your KEY when the inevitable reinstall for XP or Longhorn is required? Would it not be prudent to be versed in linux? Will your ISP still be functional ?

Will any of this matter? (your thoughts)

well linux has potential patent infringements on about what is it 150 patents so i wouldnt necessarily count on that. i do hope it works out for linux but who knows.

know something interesting though is that m$ lost its first round on the challenges to their FAT patents. ive been thinking why do you really need an independent os from the browser in terms of browsers like mozilla? maybe they should play m$'s hand against them and extend mozilla to include its own os functions and then do everything inside the browser. who need s a desktop or windows explorer anyways.

import java.io.*;

class wwwlll[

public static void main(String[] args)[

System.out.println("Hello [whats left of the] world");

]

]


The first programme that will be taught to the few remaining CS students at least there may be jobs that u won't have to go to india to find

Originally posted by spangbr
well linux has potential patent infringements on about what is it 150 patents so i wouldnt necessarily count on that. i do hope it works out for linux but who knows.

Even if all the patent infringements were true, it still wouldn't render Linux useless. No code has to be obtained from any central location to reinstall it. And the worse the conditions the better off you'd be using Linux since the lawyers will have other things to worry about

Originally posted by spangbr
well linux has potential patent infringements on about what is it 150 patents so i wouldnt necessarily count on that. i do hope it works out for linux but who knows.

So far not a single patent has infringed on Linux. The bad news is there's roughly 300 more lawsuits pending . Im glad to see more and more countries following Munich's example and migrating to Linux operatying systems. I hope to see more in the future.

To go straight to the topice title, my opinion is shared on that. Open source OS have pros and cons:

Pro:
- it allows to be perfected by anyone
- it allows a lot of customization (I'm thinking particularly of big systems that can then be made user customized)
- it is probably (not only thinking about perfecting it) a good source of inspiration for the main authors, as users from all over the world will submit changes and new ideas

Cons:
- it is an easy way for malevolent programmers to detect faults and create viruses and other malware (as they're called now)
- it is maybe also a source of slowing down new releases, by giving the main authors too many tracks to investigate from users' suggestions

Anyway, if anything else, I think sharing of knowledge and information is the key to any development, and as such, opening the source of any software is good. Commercially talking, it is obviously not necessarily good...

Linux is the way to go. I suggest all learn to use the system, not because if the world gets blown up, but because it is a good skill to have. Many businesses chose Linux over Windows.