“Linux is ugly. There is no consistency in the command line,
configuration files, or the graphical interfaces. Sure, GNU is not
UNIX, but Linux looks and feels like its misbegotten child. The
kernel is monolithic and outdated in Computer Science. The Windows
NT and GNU Hurd micro-kernels are designed with the benefits of
more modern theory. So why has Linux taken off?”
“The immediate answer is the open source development model, and
that it can be distributed at no cost. In a capitalist society,
products with lower prices tend to proliferate and it is difficult
to beat free. There is something deeper going on however. A better
questions to ask is, “why does Linux engender such user loyalty
despite being based on 1970s technology?…”
“The simplicity of the design and the availability of the source
code makes it easy to knock a couple walls out when needed.
Instead of throwing away all the lessons learned from the
previous generation, Linux makes incremental improvements. Why
throw out 30 years of hard-gained wisdom each time you build a new
piece of software? Successful programming is largely based on
putting together typical templates that have proven to work. We
don’t redesign nails every time we build a structure, why should we
do it with software?”