Linux could have been bigger than Windows today

Linus Torvalds, in 1991 rewrote the UNIX Operating System and it was later called as Linux. Only 2% of the current Linux kernel is written by Trovalds, but still he is the ultimate authority on what new code is incorporated into Lunix. Linux is an open source operating system and its code can be obtained and modified as per the user’s requirement. Developers all over the world started working on the Linux kernel and thus Linux started spreading. Business houses started changing the code as per their requirement and some started making their own distros. Companies like Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake, SuSe etc. have their own distributions of Linux and users have the flexibility of choosing from a wide array of products. Linux today is widely used desktops, palmtops, and servers and even in supercomputers.

Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, has been working on operating systems for a long-long time. Right from the time MS-DOS was introduced till Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has been working to build a single stable platform and always worked hard on the user-friendliness of any product they make.(I am not going much in to the security holes in the OS) That’s the reason it is the market leader and an estimated 90% of the desktop personal computers run on Windows.

Even though Linux is the preferred platform in the server category because of its stability and cost-effectiveness, it’s Windows which is the more popular one because of its user friendliness. Linux fans might disagree with me on this count, but it has to be accepted that Linux is still a nightmare for an average user. As I earlier said, there are countless companies working on different distros of Linux and several thousand developers who are striving to make their product big. On any day Linux developers far outnumber the developers working on the Windows platform. My imagination is if all these Linux developers/companies come together and strive to make a single Linux platform, work on the stability and above all the user friendliness of the OS, then Windows can be beaten outright.

I believe the main problem behind the slow movement of Linux is the innumerable number of distros which are available in the market. I think Linux’s main advantage, which I quoted earlier in this passage is acting as a deterrent to its popularity. Many users are not sure which one is best suited for them and hence think its better to go in for Windows. That’s the reason Linux movement is very slow, even though its gaining popularity.

Well what do you think?