Android is Linux but no one wants to know

[hazel]

Yesterday I was reading an article in the Independent about how Android is exploding in the smartphone/tablet world. It didn't mention the word "Linux". It didn't mention "free software" or "open source". It just called Android "Google's new operating system". The author did mention that Google charges no licensing fees but the implication was that Google was just being generous.

It's almost as if Linux was some kind of dirty secret. I feel sad.

[MikeTbob]

Yep, Linux gets no glory or credit for Android. A couple of days ago I posted a message on my facebook page asking people if they had ever tried Linux and the ones who did respond all said no, they didn't even know what Linux is. So you can imagine their surprise when I informed them that if they had an Android phone, they were using Linux, already. I think it's like trying to educate Windows users about Linux, they don't care as long as it "just works".

[madhatter632]

I've thrown out the question once before to some friends that use linux, the question is : how many people do you think would be into computers if there was no windows os ?

[elija]

I've thrown out the question once before to some friends that use linux, the question is : how many people do you think would be into computers if there was no windows os ?

Well given that Commodore computers, Amstrad computers, Apple computers, Atari computers, BBC computers, Acon computers and many many more existed prior to Windows, given that the GUI that Windows, Mac and all other GUI's are still based on was designed in the mid '70s by Xerox Parc and given that even the Internet predates the existence of Windows, I'd say plenty. It would be a lot more varied though.

Would there be as many? Well, we'd have to invent a machine that can hop realities to find that out. Two in particular would be interesting to see.

1. IBM never built the PC
2. IBM built the PC but Gary Kildall wasn't out flying.

Oh and I like telling my Windows lovin' boss that he is now a Linux user because of his phone.

[hazel]

Well given that Commodore computers, Amstrad computers, Apple computers, Atari computers, BBC computers, Acon computers and many many more existed prior to Windows, given that the GUI that Windows, Mac and all other GUI's are still based on was designed in the mid '70s by Xerox Parc and given that even the Internet predates the existence of Windows, I'd say plenty. It would be a lot more varied though.

Would there be as many? Well, we'd have to invent a machine that can hop realities to find that out. Two in particular would be interesting to see.

1. IBM never built the PC
2. IBM built the PC but Gary Kildall wasn't out flying.

There was an episode of Star Trek Voyager in which a Bill Gates-like figure found a crashed spaceship from the future in 1986, and used the technology he found aboard it to create the first PC. When Captain Janeway and pals tried to clean up the timeline, they found they couldn't because if they did, the whole information technology revolution would never have happened.

[MASONTX]

Many people were working on making computers more usable, Gates just happened to be the first to market. If memory serves, the first few tries at windows (1.0 and 2.0) were big flops, but he kept going and 3.1 caught on. Still, if not Gates, then maybe we would all be using some form of linux, bsd, OS2, or Apple. I had friends in the early 80's that swore by Apple. Gates may like to think that if he hadn't come up with Windows, modern computing wouldn't have happened, but I think someone would have filled the vacuum.