Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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33 years ago... (lemmy.ca)

submitted 3 months ago by northmaple1984@lemmy.ca to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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[–] netvor@lemmy.world 178 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (12 children)

Funny how he made it basically for his desktop computer.

33 years later, and Linux is dominating in every part of the OS world except ... the desktop.

(I'm paraphrasing his quote -- he said something like this years ago, can't find it, though.)

(Edit: to be more fair with quotes, it might be the case that I "hallucinated" the quote. he might not have said that, or he might have just said part of it and other part would be someone else's comment. This cio.com article is probably a better source on his position )

[–] AccountMaker 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You might be thinking of this:

https://youtu.be/ZPUk1yNVeEI?feature=shared

Where he mentioned that the desktop is unique in that it has to support thousands of different devices for all kinds of people, and that most people don't really care what their computer is running as long as it works.

[–] netvor@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Well, I was thinking of a quote that was much more similar to what I wrote (and it's not in the video you linked).

I had such a trouble finding it that I'm starting to feel like it might be one of those "quotes" where the credited author never really said that, but I haven't completely given up :D

Here's one closer to what I paraphrased (but not quite it)--quoting an article from cio.com

While Linux pretty much dominates almost every walk of our lives, even on the consumer devices like smartphones and smart TVs, it has not had the same success on the desktop. What does Torvalds think about it? Is Linux a failure on the desktop? Not really. “The desktop hasn’t really taken over the world like Linux has in many other areas, but just looking at my own use, my desktop looks so much better than I ever could have imagined. Despite the fact that I’m known for sometimes not being very polite to some of the desktop UI people, because I want to get my work done. Pretty is not my primary thing. I actually am very happy with the Linux desktop, and I started the project for my own needs, and my needs are very much fulfilled. That’s why, to me, it’s not a failure. I would obviously love for Linux to take over that world too, but it turns out it’s a really hard area to enter. I’m still working on it. It’s been 25 years. I can do this for another 25. I’ll wear them down.”

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