World Without Linux video gets chilly reception on Reddit
In today's open source roundup: The Linux Foundation's first "World Without Linux" video bombs with Linux redditors. Plus: DistroWatch reviews Android-x86 4.4-r3. And the Solus operating system has been delayed
Linux redditors skeptical of A "World Without Linux" video
The Linux Foundation has released a video called a "World Without Linux" that offers a quick look at what life might be like without Linux. The video is the first in a series of videos apparently designed to garner appreciation for Linux.
From the Linux Foundation's "World Without Linux" site:
Linux is the world’s largest collaborative project in the history of computing. It runs most of the world’s technology infrastructure and is supported by more developers and companies than any other platform. It’s literally everywhere - from your phone to your car and your office. It also powers the Internet, the cloud, the world’s stock exchanges, supercomputers, embedded devices and more.
A World Without Linux is a web series that flips this reality on its head to illustrate in an entertaining fashion just how pervasive Linux is today. This fictitious world is such a preposterous notion that the scenarios depicted in the series help us understand how much Linux is a part of our everyday lives and allows us to thank the developers and companies who support Linux.
Please join characters Annie, Sam and String as they navigate this unimaginable world that puts a funny twist on the story of Linux and brings awareness to the fundamental ubiquity of this technology.
But the video found a rather chilly reception on the Linux subreddit, with some redditors taking a rather skeptical view of it:
8287f13802daab88480a: ”Whoever made this and/or the person at LF who decided to put their name behind this should have their house raided for meth. Also, if Apple or MS came out saying shit like this they'd get ripped to shreds for being delusional and spreading propaganda.”
Vemundvein: ”Pretty much this. There are plenty of merits to Linux without having to claim ownership over somthing that existed prior to itself.”
Jringstad: ”I mean, I guess it somewhat depends on what kind of perspective you consider. I'm sure its true that the internet would run into very serious trouble if you somehow magically erased linux from existence right this instant, as many servers, switches, routers, datacenters, ... would just cease functioning. But then, that's a pretty irrelevant perspective to consider.”
Teh: ”While truthful, it is deceptive. The "Linux" here refers to the kernel. Not the Unixlike OS'es built around it which are also commonly referred to by that name. The video seems to imply this word game for some political game.
Tim Minchin once said "If I didn't have you, someone else would do." and he's right. This video makes the fallacy of that if X which fulfills this functionality currently wouldn't exist, then the functionality wouldn't exist. Rather, what would most likely happen is that something else would've fulfilled it. I doubt people who currently drive Chrysler would be carless if Chrysler didn't exist, they would just have another car.
If Torvalds never started Linux we would probably be using either GNU/Hurd or GNU/kFreeBSD instead. The Hurd was never completed because Linux offered that functionality and was Free. And kFreeBSD became free a couple of years thereafter so even if the Hurd wasn't finished by then they could've used that. In fact, since FreeBSD and BSD in general became free there might be no need for any GNU variant.
Multiple frames have an animation gaffe where the skeletal lines of the face of the left character are not erased. ”
H3ron: ”In a world without Linux maybe FLOSS developers would have focused on HURD.”
Drecks: ”Linux is important, but they would have figured out a way to create the internet without free software. Also I think an open alternative to Windows was inevitable. If not Linux it would've been GNU or more likly OpenBSD”
Jaffakek: ”The Internet predates free software. The World Wide Web, on the other hand, was developed after the introduction of the free software movement (but before the first release of Linux) but it was developed on proprietary systems and the first web browsers were proprietary.”
Oflameo: ”A weird kernel called Freax or one of the 5 BSD kernels, probably the OpenBSD kernel, would fill in the niche. GNU exist whether or not Linux exist, and that is the balk of the operating system. So far the Linux foundation's propaganda is pretty lame.”
