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Linux Only Hardware

By Male Muse ⋅ January 10, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

We have all heard the arguments for Linux and comparisons to Microsoft's Operating Systems.  We have also heard the merits of Apple's OS/X Operating System, and it has even started to look very interesting for businesses with last years release of OS/X Leopard.

What is not talked about is how in fact Linux is basically a Operating System that runs on Microsoft hardware.

If you have been in the business long enough you should know what I mean.  The Intel x86 architecture has been tuned over the years to run Microsoft Windows.  It's a total monopoly.  Oh yeah, you could say it's an open architecture if you live with your head up your ass.

As a matter of fact even Apple has conceded their proprietary hardware in favor of Intel's Microsoft hardware.  You can even find people who have Microsoft Windows running directly on this "new" Apple hardware.

Back to my main point:  The biggest problem, maybe the only problem facing Linux is that all computer hardware is basically Microsoft hardware and Linux has to reverse engineer it to make Linux work on it.  The Linux community has had the luck last year to get Dell to begin to sell computer with Ubuntu pre-loaded and this has been a good thing for Linux, however the hardware is just Microsoft hardware with Linux installed from the factory.  Not a really risky commitment.

What the world needs is Linux hardware.  This is hardware made specifically to run Linux.  In my opinion this should not be Intel manufactured.  Perhaps AMD should take the lead position in developing CPU chips that are tuned for Linux, or even better would be to get someone like SGI (previously known as Silicon Graphics) to turn their MIP presses again with tweaks for Linux.

Until we see specific Linux hardware on the market Linux will be forced to play on another teams home field.