“From a purely technical perspective, there is little or no
reason why GNU/Linux-powered devices should cease to thrive. They
could even become a de facto choice in consumer appliances for
years to come. In turn, more broadly we might find desktop
deployments that consistently use GNU/Linux as the platform of
choice. However, the greater barriers to the GNU/Linux desktop are
more subtle.“Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, keeps
insisting that Microsoft, by failing to compete based on technical
merits, resorts to fear, uncertainty and doubt
techniques–sometimes going as far as intimidation. More recently,
Torvalds said he was becoming concerned about what he described as
‘external issues–especially patents…'”