Robert Pogson

Jack Wallen thinks the decision of the US Navy to switch their drones to GNU/Linux from that other OS because of a virus will play out like this:
“

• DOD begins Linux roll out
• US Government begins wide-spread roll out
• Civilian security companies world-wide begin roll out
• Universities fall in line
• Consumers begin clamoring for better security on their OS

“

I think the situation is a bit more complex than that. Clearly weapons/intelligence collection devices require top security but it is far from clear that consumers will ever think that way. They fall for the salesmen’s lies…

Some of what Jack Wallen predicts will happen but the route to the consumers for GNU/Linux will happen on retail shelves because M$’s “partners” finally see that M$ is a burden rather than a benefit. They had a clue with Vista when there was so much grief for consumers (and thus retailers and OEMs) and soon, again, they will have grief with “8″: new /foreign user-interface, radically different hardware, and new crippling of personal computers to try to prop up the monopoly.

That’s already happening with OEMs squirming over the usurious price M$ is demanding for “8″.

I think Dell opening 1000 retail outlets to Ubuntu GNU/Linux in China and India is a bigger opportunity for GNU/Linux than a few drones in the US Navy. Canonical lists Toshiba, Acer, Dell and HP as its “partners”. That’s a big part of Canonical’s goal to be on 5% of shipping PCs soon. That trumps the US Navy, in peacetime anyway.

see Linux grabs its single biggest win | TechRepublic.

see also this storefront in Delhi… That will get consumers’ attention long before security does.

see also this one…

There’s more than a press-release behind the Canonical/Dell announcement.