[ Thanks to Fred
Palmer for this link. ]
“In his book “Accidental Empires”, Bob Cringley states that it
takes 30 years for a new technology to be widely adopted by the
public. He gives examples of telephones, which were invented in the
1870’s and popularized in the 1900’s, and TV’s (invented in the
1920’s, accepted in the 1950’s). The personal computer dates from
between the 1971 invention of the microprocessor to the 1975
introduction of the Altair. Adding 30 years to those dates would
take us to between 2001 and 2005. We’re just about there. So has
the public adopted the PC?”
“Well, sort of….”
“So will it take 30 years for Linux to be adopted? No. Not
even close.“
“Linux won’t take 30 years to be adopted for several reasons.
The first is that Linux is not a new technology. Its the inevitable
extension to the PC technology that itself has to evolve to reach
its final acceptance. Linux is scalable so it fits into multiple
devices. The PC has to evolve into devices that range from the
small to the downright invisible. And each of those devices needs
an operating system. Linux isn’t new – it’s just a better fit.”