Analyst: It's Game Over for Linux

A Forrester analyst yesterday told the Linux world that it is game over for the OS. No more hope for world domination. At least on desktops and mobile devices.

This special post begins with the following notes: "Poor Linux. It struggled so hard to dominate the world. It was the little open source engine that could, but it didn’t." It ends with "[…] I do not think the open source community can muster the forces necessary to compete. Open source never seems to be the innovator. Instead, it seems to disrupt pricing power for established technologies. Game over for worldwide dominance." Swallow that.

Forrester analyst Mike Gualtieri recognizes that Linux has 60 percent of the server market, but states it only has 2 percent of the desktop market. iOS and Android virtually killed it in mobile. In Gualtieri's words: "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 Linux."

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Douglas Perry was a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering semiconductors, storage technology, quantum computing, and processor power delivery. He has authored several books and is currently an editor for The Oregonian/OregonLive.