2014 – The best of years for Open-source, Linux and Red Hat – Reflections of a Linux Enthusiast
Hello netlanders,
Due to a project I’m working on (in minix), I’m interested in the posix standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably) machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be nice.
The project was obviously Linux, so by July 3rd I had started to think about actual user-level things: some of the device drivers were ready, and the hard disk actually worked. Not too much else.
Ever since Linus Benedict Torvalds first commented about Linux in a newsgroup, the world has come a long way embracing open source with open arms.
2014 – An year which imprinted open source technologies in things that mattered, be it Dockers, Containers, OpenStack or Big Data; all demonstrated Linux. Let us rightfully admit that this gem of an operating system has adopted an evolution from being a mere competitor to a leader, a favorite in the student and hobbyist market. Big time yes!
We also witnessed in 2014, an admiring declaration from the Microsoft CEO Mr. Satya Nadella : ”Microsoft loves Linux”: What more to be heard from a lifelong competitor! And this has rightly taken a roller coaster ride in the social media already.
Leaving no space for further doubts, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst claims open source to be safe, secure and reliable. – “Open source solutions are all of those things and more. They are widely embraced by the enterprise: Red Hat alone counts more than 90% of the Fortune 500 as our customers. I applaud Microsoft and others for recognizing the undeniable force of community powered innovation”.
Claimed as Today’s Big Thing, OpenStack was hailed as the golden grab last year. The drastic shift to cloud was propelled by OpenStack on the heels. Many big names pocketed the merits of OpenStack technology – Ciscowebex, Overstock, PayPal, Harvard University – to name a few. Ever since Red Hat announced the Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network in June 2014, enterprises are enticed to devour its fruits. Researches project the OpenStack market to be hitting $3.3 billion by 2018, which is quadruple its market size during the onset of 2014. Additionally to markets like India and China which has readily embraced this technology, OpenStack was successful in creating quite an awe even in the conservative IT markets like South Korea.
Container technology is yet another brain child of Linux which has been in the limelight lately. Quick assembly of apps from components, instead of building them from scratch is a boon to Information Technology and is sure to take the lead in 2015. The first stable release of Dockers in December has created vibes proclaiming that it would probably spur a revolution in the IT industry in the near future.
Further down the list of remarkable success stories within the Linux family is the incorporation of live kernel patching facilities into Suse Linux. This facilitates Enterprise level subscribers of Suse Linux to patch their kernel without the need of an immediate reboot. More news from Suse is that, they would serve an initiative to help big start-ups develop new apps based on SAP HANA platform which is from their new partner.
An inevitable part of the whole 2014 story would be Chrome OS and the ‘amazing Android’ which flourished tremendously in the IT market last year. Over 283 million smart phones running the Linux kernel would help categorize Android as ‘dominance’ rather than ‘a growing trend’. Chromebook sales scaled up to a substantial 1.4 million during January and May 2014; just as Gartner predicted!
Well, 2014 was not all claps and glory. The desktop side of Linux proved to be uneventful except for the release of Ubuntu Unity 8 and Linux Deepin. 2014 also witnessed bugs like Shellshock and Heartbleed that sheared into the security of Linux making an incision as never seen before. Thanks to the bright heads; these issues were resolved and Linux once again restored its glamour and splendor.
2015 is an year of promise for Linux. The world is anxious about what the New Year has in store for the Open Source. Indeed, the prospects are certainly good. Let us wait eagerly for new wonders that would come our way.
To all who see this enthusiastically, let us join hands, bid bye 2014 that was beautifully aligned, anticipating a new year of the Penguin. Cheers!
Welcome Aboard Penguin 2015!
