Recently, Tech circles especially the Opensource ones were abuzz with a news that caught many eyes. The creator and top level maintainer of Linux kernel, viz., Linus Torvalds merged the code base of Android into Linux kernel in March 2012. This was after over 2+ years when he had dropped the Android drivers from Linux previously in late 2009.
As you are perhaps already aware, Android is a fork of Linux kernel codebase. It has actively been developed by Google. The initial seed source code came from Linux kernel but over time, as with all forks, it diverged greatly. As a result they were not compatible with each other natively, not atleast you were a kernel developer and had no problem getting hands dirty in the guts of Linux/Android kernel programming; not until now at least.
The kernel is the heart of the OS. Inside all the Linux out there, the kernel is the piece of the OS that is downright closest to the hardware with complete control of all the hardware interface and system calls. As an end user, one hardly notices it since almost all of our time and interactions are spent on the user interface of the OS which represents the so called 'user space'. Remember, a complete OS is comprised of 1) the kernel running in the 'kernel space' of your computer's-memory and 2) the user interface (Applications like browser, spreadsheets, documents etc) that run in the 'user space' of your computer's-memory. The kernel is the first thing that runs after a system boots up and like I said earlier, manages all the hardware and operations native to the OS. In other words, kernel is indispensable to the proper functioning of the OS.
Going back to our topic, although once upon a time, Android codebase originated in Linux, over time, they diverged resulting in several incompatibilities. However, with the explosive growth and popularity of Android on the mobile phone and tablet segments, it was a matter of time that it was considered a suitable candidate to return home to Linux codebase.
Now why is that important? Well, the reason it is important is because, Linux kernel dominates the Enterprise computing. There is hardly any organization from a Fortune500 to a one man shop in a garage that does not have awareness of the relevance of Linux in Business. It is the most secure, stable, scalable, networked and yet surprisingly affordable Computer Operating System on the planet. On the other extreme of the spectrum, Android is the most popular Operating system on the mobile segment. Where Linux lacks is the personal computing or desktop segment. Even after 20 years of existence, the share of Linux Operating system on the desktop computing segment is a sad 2% or less. In other words, Linux dominates on the Large and the small computer segments but is missing in the middle (desktop segment). Now with the merger, it would be safe to say that there would be a sizeable concentration of Linux/Android kernel developers who would go creative and start porting the best features of both Linux and Android into the desktop Linux segment. Who knows in a short time, you may have OEM vendors ready to pre-install Linux onto their desktops/laptops resulting in the obvious increase of Linux market share from 2% to 25%. or 50%? or even 90% one day? We certainly would love to wait for that to happen..
As you are perhaps already aware, Android is a fork of Linux kernel codebase. It has actively been developed by Google. The initial seed source code came from Linux kernel but over time, as with all forks, it diverged greatly. As a result they were not compatible with each other natively, not atleast you were a kernel developer and had no problem getting hands dirty in the guts of Linux/Android kernel programming; not until now at least.
The kernel is the heart of the OS. Inside all the Linux out there, the kernel is the piece of the OS that is downright closest to the hardware with complete control of all the hardware interface and system calls. As an end user, one hardly notices it since almost all of our time and interactions are spent on the user interface of the OS which represents the so called 'user space'. Remember, a complete OS is comprised of 1) the kernel running in the 'kernel space' of your computer's-memory and 2) the user interface (Applications like browser, spreadsheets, documents etc) that run in the 'user space' of your computer's-memory. The kernel is the first thing that runs after a system boots up and like I said earlier, manages all the hardware and operations native to the OS. In other words, kernel is indispensable to the proper functioning of the OS.
Going back to our topic, although once upon a time, Android codebase originated in Linux, over time, they diverged resulting in several incompatibilities. However, with the explosive growth and popularity of Android on the mobile phone and tablet segments, it was a matter of time that it was considered a suitable candidate to return home to Linux codebase.
Now why is that important? Well, the reason it is important is because, Linux kernel dominates the Enterprise computing. There is hardly any organization from a Fortune500 to a one man shop in a garage that does not have awareness of the relevance of Linux in Business. It is the most secure, stable, scalable, networked and yet surprisingly affordable Computer Operating System on the planet. On the other extreme of the spectrum, Android is the most popular Operating system on the mobile segment. Where Linux lacks is the personal computing or desktop segment. Even after 20 years of existence, the share of Linux Operating system on the desktop computing segment is a sad 2% or less. In other words, Linux dominates on the Large and the small computer segments but is missing in the middle (desktop segment). Now with the merger, it would be safe to say that there would be a sizeable concentration of Linux/Android kernel developers who would go creative and start porting the best features of both Linux and Android into the desktop Linux segment. Who knows in a short time, you may have OEM vendors ready to pre-install Linux onto their desktops/laptops resulting in the obvious increase of Linux market share from 2% to 25%. or 50%? or even 90% one day? We certainly would love to wait for that to happen..
No comments:
Post a Comment