Power In Numbers

Recently, I read a (now much publicized) interview with Linus Torvalds about the future of Linux. None of his revelations were as revolutionary as his kernel has been, but that didn’t stop scores of “journalists” from filling Linux news with headlines to the effect that “Torvalds Confirms There Will Be No Linux Version 3!”.

For those that actually read and understood the source article, Torvalds talked about the power and stability of the 2.6 kernel line, and the current vision of incrementally improving it rather than making radical and disruptive changes. He also noted the industry-wide trend of giving “sexy names” and new version numbers to software releases, which amount to relatively minor improvements in real function. New releases of applications and operating system software are largely comprised of feature bloat, with the underlying purpose being to create sales by replacing perfectly good software with newer and different (but not necessarily better) software. Windows Vista is a perfect example of this, with many users and major companies currently electing to downgrade back to Windows XP, or refuse to “upgrade” in the first place.

Reporting that the Linux kernel will not reach version 3 creates the impression that development is stalling, or in decline, or indeed that there is something fundamentally wrong with the operating system. What is fundamentally wrong is the low level of professionalism among too many “journalists”, eager to seize the opportunity for an eye-catching headline — headlines that ‘Feed the FUD’ that already hampers Linux’s wider embrace. Granted, this spreading of misinformation sometimes works to Linux’s “advantage”, such as the widely reported news of Linux desktop use “doubling” within the last year (based on DesktopLinux.com’s admittedly non-scientific poll). But any Linux stories that misrepresent the status of Linux for better or worse do a disservice to readers seeking useful information about the OS, and to responsible journalists and tech writers that strive to maintain professional integrity.