Business Times (SG): Can Linux live up to its hype? | Linux Today

Business Times (SG): Can Linux live up to its hype?

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Oct 6, 2000

[ Thanks to Martin
Brooks
for this link. ]

“Co-creator of the Unix OS, Ken Thompson, said in May 1999 that
Microsoft was unreliable “but Linux is worse. In a non-PC
environment, it just won’t hold up. If you’re using it on a single
box, that’s one thing. But if you want to use Linux in firewalls,
gateways, embedded systems and so on, it has a long way to go.”

“An often-touted benefit is that Linux is a Unix-like OS. Unix
relies on 30-year-old OS architecture designed for the technology
of the day. Linux was not designed from the ground up to support
SMP (symmetrical multiprocessing), GUI (graphical user interfaces),
asynchronous I/O, fine-grained security model, or many other key
characteristics of a modern OS. These are fundamental barriers to
cost-effectively deploying scalable, secure, and robust
applications.”

“Linux provides access controls to files and directories only,
and does not support key security accreditation standards.
Configuring Linux security requires an administrator to be an
expert in the intricacies of the OS and on how the different
components interact. Misconfigure any part, and the system could be
vulnerable to attack.”

“The writer is product manager, desktop operating systems,
Microsoft Singapore”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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