Artem Tashkinov: Independent Hardware Vendors Hate Linux

Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 1 August 2017 at 02:10 AM EDT. 113 Comments
HARDWARE
Independent commentator Artem S. Tashkinov is back at it again with his latest thoughts on GNU/Linux and its problems in a post entitled "Why Linux/GNU might never succeed on a large scale".

Tashkinov has previously ranted about problems he views with Linux as well as other operating systems like Android and Windows 10. His latest controversial thoughts are on why he thinks GNU/Linux might never succeed on a large scale. But then again, many of you will probably agree GNU/Linux has already succeeded on an enormous scale -- well, at least in clouds, servers, and workstations. When it comes to Linux on the desktop, most reports still put the overall Linux desktop at around 2% with the Linux gaming market-share at under 1%. And, of course, there still hasn't been a break-through GNU/Linux smartphone that's done well in overall markets.

The "IT guy" argues that hardware vendors hate dealing with the Linux kernel over the lack of control, the frequent breakage of the Linux kernel API, the inability for some vendors to publish documentation on their hardware, and regressions in drivers created by the open-source community.

When it comes to IHVs, there are plenty out there still scared of Linux or think it's not worthwhile to invest in given the current desktop numbers, especially within the PR/marketing departments at some of these companies. Others meanwhile remain very committed to Linux and in the months ahead there is one particular Linux hardware play I am very much looking forward to, but that exclusive will have to wait for another day.

While some points raised by Tashkinov have some merit such as around the Linux kernel's lack of a stable API/ABI, others of you probably see things quite differently. So if you are looking for some coffee reading this morning from different perspectives, check out Artem's blog post.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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