Our encounter with Jim Zemlin , the executive director of the Linux Foundation, the body responsible for organizing LinuxCon-has left some of the key projects in this pillar moving ecosystem Linux / Open Source, and also allowed us to ask some questions about the present and future of our operating system.

started asking if she figures Zemlin Linux users worldwide. “Every day everyone uses Linux “. He was referring, of course, to the great versatility of Linux, which is present in all types of devices and solutions, from small-and large embedded systems to supercomputers, which are based on this operating system.

In attempting to reveal the number of users of Linux on the desktop (PCs and laptops), Zemlin admitted not knowing the figures used by systems such as NetApplications or StatCounter Global-which put Linux’s overall share by 1% – and as he could confirm, keep a tally of these users is complicated in the FLOSS ecosystem.

We

to ask Jim about something that has always made us think: the existence of large open source projects and distributions. So many options available in all sections may have more disadvantages than advantages (you know, “less is more”), but Zemlin offered a different view: “Since pure developer perspective, more is always better . More people are innovating, trying to create something for themselves “.

also claimed Zemlin, the development philosophy has changed dramatically for the last 5 or 6 years now. “ Most companies are developing applications are written using standards like HTML5 , and except for games that require certain APIs to take advantage of the graphics, there was consistency in the past does not matter so much “.

Zemlin

argued that wealth of options to joke with the constant existence of flame wars between the users of Linux (KDE vs GNOME vs Arch vs Ubuntu vs openSUSE …) with a “ Seriously there flame wars in the Linux world!? “and then get serious and say that” is that passion that people have about the software that makes them be creative “.

Another issue discussed was the eternal question of the success (or failure) of Linux on the desktop, something that did not seem worried Zemlin. In fact, he said, “ Microsoft also losing in the world of desktop [...] The concept of the PC desktop is becoming increasingly irrelevant something . Microsoft is struggling and has a share of 90% to a 30% share in consumer electronics devices “. Obviously, he was referring to a fee that included not only PCs, where it remains clear dominant-but tablets and smartphones, where its presence is by now almost anecdotal. And precisely in this segment is very present with Linux and Android solutions.

Two of the most interesting projects with which the Linux Foundation has committed have been Yocto and Automotive Grade Linux Workgroup. As Zemlin explained and explained on the official website, Yocto is a collaborative project that “ provides tools, templates and methods to help organizations create custom systems and Linux-based embedded products regardless of the hardware architecture “.

Even more promising

could be the second project, aimed at making the car manufacturers work with kernel development precisely in order to use this kernel on all future automotive systems. Zemlin spoke of the large number of sensors currently used in cars, and how Linux serve to control much more than “ navigation and entertainment ” on these vehicles, which he said could begin to see “in four or five years.”

One of our last questions was suggested by one of the readers of MuyLinux, Synflag, I wanted to suggest the question of true involvement of companies like NVIDIA does not change its policy drivers despite being a member of the Linux Foundation. Zemlin wanted to reassure us by saying that “ NVIDIA is working on it “, and that “we are attentive “. We’ll see if his comments, which seem to point to a real attitude change this-and other-company come true.

The same reader also suggested Zemlin our last question: why there is no investment in marketing to help promote Linux? Zemin tried again to reassure the Linux community. “We are doing well . The businesses that use Linux and do much mkareting create products. I’m not sure that there is need for a specific campaign of Linux “, concluding backsliding in the initial message,” Most people use it every day without even know “.

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