From catch-up to leader / 29 / 2016 / Archive / Magazine / Home

From catch-up to leader

Kran Kanthawong, 123RF

Innovation

Paul C. Brown

For a while, it looked as though GNU/Linux was playing catch up to proprietary software. Now the tables have turned, and Linux is a leader in innovation.

During the early years of Linux, from the outside, the technology itself and the community that grew around it always seemed to be playing catch up. The desktop projects were accused of imitating proprietary desktops but lacking the polish and consistency of closed-source systems. The applications were described as inadequate clones of proprietary products, and users complained that support for common (not standardized, mind, just common) hardware and formats was spotty.

Of course, there were plenty of reasons for all these complaints: The usability rules behind graphical interfaces had been laid down years before the advent of Windows or Mac OS X. Open source app developers were often trying out innovative but untested techniques. And reverse engineering ever-changing hardware and formats without the help – and sometimes with active opposition – of providers is a time-consuming and uncertain endeavor.

But, none of that matters now.

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