[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Every now and then, someone comes up with “the one invincible
argument” against the use of Linux, or indeed, any Unix in
business. “Look at how Unix fragmented/forked,” they say. “Linux is
a Unix variant, ergo Linux will fork. No, people need a stable
environment to run business in, and since Unix, by definition
(theirs) is prone to fragmentation, it is unsuitable for use in the
Real World….”
“Now, with being adapted for all these computing
environments, how is Linux to avoid “forking”? The answer is
simple, it can’t. The exact requirements of a mainframe OS are
not those of a handheld OS, which are not the requirements of an
embedded OS, which are not the requirements of a supercomputer OS,
which are not the requirements of a graphics workstation OS, which
are not the requirements of a …”
“The problem is not “forking”, the problem is rather how is one
to maintain enough compatibility between the “forked” versions, so
that one can at least theoretically design an application that runs
with a minimum of alteration on the supercomputer, the handheld,
the mainframe, the embedded device and the graphics workstation,
etc, ad incrementum….”