Tux at 24

“Happy Birthday, Linux!”, announced slashdot today. I’ve been a user for a long time, my first direct experience of Linux was with a tiny district that shipped on four floppy disks, which even back in 1996 (I think, maybe 1997) was tight. I still remember being amazed that it could read from floppy while doing something else! The Windows and DOS operating systems I’d had on my old PC were hard pressed to walk and talk at the same time and floppy I/O always brought a momentary halt to any proceedings.

There was always a lot of talk through the years about if and when Linux would displace Microsoft on the desktop, but in 24 years it never really happened. What did happen though is that the desktop was itself displaced. Microsoft is no longer the evil empire of old, but its still supreme on the traditional PC. The thing is though, that were not using PCs so much anymore, its all tablets and smart phones, connected devices and smart  TV’s.

Guess what they run?

Linux.

Not bad for a 24 year old!