“Monolithic operating systems consisting of “standard
blocks” are on the way out, said Linus Torvalds yesterday, and they
will be replaced by specially tailored and personalised
systems. Torvalds was speaking at Internet World on the
subject of Linux in business, and it appears he’s now thinking
about how the characteristics of open source software will give
Linux an advantage over rival models.”
“Open source allows rapid and varied development, and taking tow
examples used by Torvalds yesterday, that means stripped-down
versions can be produced quickly for, say set-top boxes, or at a
more individual level companies can have their own tailored Web
interface produced for their staff. As Linux was originally
designed to run on pretty modest hardware anyway, it’s also
inherently easier to get it onto a diverse range of platforms,
particularly because the vast majority of new (and high volume)
platforms will be low resource.”