Mike Gualtieri, Forrester
Mike Gualtieri a Technology Research Analyst at Forrester recently posted on the Forrester Research blog suggesting that “Linux” dominating the world is game over. It is clear that Mike doesn’t quite have a grasp on how big Linux is and how it is continuing to grow worldwide.
Here is one tidbit from his post:
But the real end to Linux’s hope for world dominance came when mobile platforms iOS and Android cleaned clocks in the mobile market. Sure, Android is built on top of Linux, but Linux is only one of many piece parts of the Android mobile operating system. It is not a Linux distribution.
I’m really disappointed that Mike feels that Android is not a Linux Distribution in fact perhaps sometime in the future he should have a look at the Wikipedia entry especially when he is using Wikipedia for citations in the very post. Better yet let us not forget that ChromeOS which powers ChromeBooks is also a Linux Distro.
Some of the most popular and powerful tech companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo) in this country rely on Linux to power the majority of the infrastructure. Android regardless of what Mike says is in fact a Linux Distro much like WebOS is a distro.
Ubuntu which is a Linux distribution continues to grow at a fast rate and Canonical which supports Ubuntu in the enterprise continues to grow and hire new employees. Mobile devices powered by the Linux kernel such as Android control significant portions of the mobile handset market and yet Mike Gualtieri thinks Linux is “game over”.
I honestly expected a lot Mike Gualtieri to put a bit of thought behind his words before making such a grand claim especially on the Forrester Blogs which itself are sitting on Ubuntu Servers.