[pmoriarty]

No more than we need Torvalds to tell us which single web browser to use, or which text editor or programming language to use.

Speaking of Torvalds, git is actually a pretty good example. There was no top-down enforcing of which version control system everyone should use, yet git has become the defacto standard.

TCP/IP has become the universal networking technology, again without a top-down mandate. There are, of course, standards describing how TCP/IP works, but not one mandating its use.

Eventually, maybe there'll be a defacto, cross-platform package manager that everyone uses, but it's premature to settle on one now, as package managers are still quickly evolving.

[bluejekyll]

Git is actually what I was referring to. If there was say a packaging model that Linux kernel decided to support for say distribution of kernel modules, I think I could see it becoming the defacto standard.

I didn't really mean that he would from on high dictate what would be used. And honestly, if something like that did happen, I bet I'd be unhappy. Git is a huge step forward, but it is one of the most complex SCM's in existence, for example.