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Is OpenSolaris relevant? 18 July 2010 07:30
Does the world really need OpenSolaris?
We definitely need more than one widely-used OS, because a monopoly
is very harmful. But that doesn't mean the network effect can be
ignored.
Most applications target the most widely-used operating systems. We
see, for example, most apps targeting Windows, then many apps
targeting Windows and Mac, then quite a few apps targeting Windows,
Mac and Linux. But there is definitely a noticeable reluctance of
developers to port apps to Linux because the user base is not big
enough.
It's still not clear, in my opinion, that Linux is viable, in the
long term, in a world dominated by Windows. It is absolutely clear,
though, that there will never be two viable free-software platforms.
We have to pick one, and run with that. In the real world, that one
has to be Linux, not OpenSolaris, because Linux is much nearer having
a viable critical mass of users.
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