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by xigoi 29 days ago
> There is simply more money invested to make consumer drivers work on NT. Linux is often an afterthought for many consumer device manufacturers. There is still not enough buy-in.

This would not be the case in the hypothetical situation where Windows becomes a Linux distro.
1 comments
okanat 28 days ago
That's the last thing in the list and the looping phase of catch-22. Without providing the other earlier items, it simply doesn't make sense to make Windows a Linux distro. NT is still the better solution. Unless Linux kernel becomes very friendly to closed source drivers and gets better isolation and stable APIs, no consumer company will ever invest in Linux.

Providing a closed-source friendly ecosystem for both the OS and the application layer is what Google did for early Android and that's why it caught on.

The advantages of Win32 and the filesystem structure on top of NT's technical advantages guarantees Microsoft's monopoly will go unchallenged for consumer devices. Linux has to become more like NT, not NT become Linux for success in consumer space. Linux will never become more like NT, so it will never get a stronghold.

The question for Linux (or any kernel / system layer) is very simple: If an OEM can hire developers who will independently play a mediator role under an NDA, creating stable kernel internal APIs that live more than 5 years, making sure the kernel is ready before launch without leaking any hardware specifics, Linux is a viable platform for mass-scale consumer hardware. If not, it isn't. Linux fails on all stages of that.

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RiverCrochet 28 days ago
Device/board manufacturers shouldn't be hiding information needed for an OS to talk to it and use it behind an NDA. I bought the hardware, the operating system and applications I use it with are my business. Closed-source drivers shouldn't be a thing.

I know that they are, and it's sad, but I'm glad Linux (as opposed to some things built on Linux like Android) fundamentally holds this ideological position and takes a stand here. No PC hardware business would even exist if its base platform wasn't made to be an open on by IBM and Compaq in the early 80's.

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