IEEE Computer Society: Linux: At a Turning Point?

According to this article, "Linux may have reached a turning point at which it can either address several important challenges or face problems that could limit future adoption." The article cites fragmentation, primarily, but addresses other factors as well. The author took the time to talk to several people who ought to qualify as authorities: Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman, and IBM's Dan Frye. He also went to the Giga and Gartner wells.

The author leaves readers to draw their own conclusions, and doesn't characterize any problem it identifies as insurmountable, pointing to the LSB as an example of a pending solution.

"Enterprises may also be reluctant to consider Linux without a full framework of global service and support, vendor commitment, and a high level of functionality including scalability, availability, manageability, and security, said George Weiss, an analyst for market research firm Gartner.

In fact, a survey by the Miller Freeman media company concluded that the largest roadblock to implementing Linux is the perceived lack of commercial support and service, cited by almost a third of respondents.

Nonetheless, pushed in part by the growing demand for commercial implementations, Linux continues to develop and is beginning to address some of these concerns."

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