Looking back at the ups and downs of Linux and open-source technologies in 2014

Looking back at the ups and downs of Linux and open-source technologies in 2014

Technology observer Steven J. Vaughan-nickls at the end of the year published a summary of the ups and downs of Linux and open-source technology this year, detailing the surprises and confusions of this year.

2014 Linux environment

1. "Heartbleed )"

Heartbleed is a security vulnerability found in OpenSSL that affects billions of websites. Steven believes that the exposure of this vicious vulnerability exposes developers' blind trust in open-source technology security, so that they have never been carefully confirmed for a long time whether they are truly reliable.

1. Battle for Systemd

If you are not a serious Linux user, you may never hear of Systemd. Systemd was originally used to control programs running during Linux Startup. Although it is compatible with SysV and Linux Standard Base (LSB) init scripts, it eventually replaces these old programs.

That is to say, when Systemd does more and more work and becomes bloated, the voices of criticism are increasing. Some people think that it is contrary to the Linux/Unix philosophy of "Small, beautiful, dedicated.

At the same time, its founder Lennart Poettering he Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, has aroused long-standing disputes. In short, Systemd is a default system management tool that many developers hate but is used by most Linux branches, and it is far from good enough.

1. Lack of open-source protocols

GPL is no longer the dominant open-source protocol in the community, but many open-source programs are not applicable to any open-source protocols. In 2013, 77% of GitHub programs were not released under any protocol, which means there were countless public albums.

1. "Endless delays" for Ubuntu Touch and Steam Machine"

In addition to the controversial Linux branch of Android, Ubuntu Touch and Steam Machine have suffered setbacks for their new stars in consumer products.

Ubuntu's self-owned mobile Edge crowdfunding fails, the community adaptation project is stagnant, and the official final version is not yet complete. The meizu cooperation mobile phone from the outside has been postponed since last year's CES. As for Steam Machine, the star devices displayed at the beginning were listed for sale on Windows 8.1.

2014 Linux

1. Linux may be the most popular end-user operating system this year

The most popular end-user operating system this year may no longer be Windows, but Android. Android-based smartphones and tablet devices provide unlimited experience. Although the final statistics in 2014 have not yet been determined, Steven believes that Microsoft Office will not be so actively released on Android or even free of charge if it is not a large-scale popularity of Android.

1. Open source has become the methodology of top-level programming

According to the results of the questionnaire published by Forrester Research at the All Things Open conference, 4/5 of developers now choose Open source when releasing programs. Even Microsoft, once led by Ballmer, who described open source as "cancer", embraced open source and Linux after the launch of the new CEO Nadella: Azure supports mainstream Linux releases and Docker ,. NET open-source, working with Canonical to bring Windows Server to OpenStack.

1. Open-source technology dominates the cloud computing age

OpenStack is supported by almost all mainstream technology companies in the world, including Microsoft and VMware. Cloud computing is the future of the technology industry, and OpenStack will become a force that cannot be ignored.

1. Red Hat and Canonical cloud computing Competitions

Ubuntu is already the Linux version with the highest usage on OpenStack, and Canonical recently released a special edition for introducing Docker-like container management methods to servers. Although it competes with Red Hat, a traditional giant in the enterprise market, it also shows that Linux has a strong situation in the cloud computing market.

1. Docker suddenly emerged

Docker was not known by most people a year ago, and the word "Container" is the same. However, one year later, Docker was supported by most mainstream cloud services, making it an unquestionable future for Linux application deployment and management.

Docker is a container technology that allows developers to simply package, deliver, and run any application. It is lightweight and easy to carry and forward. In addition, Docker technology allows an enterprise's servers to run twice the number of Virtual Machine Applications.

Summary

The challenge of security and faction and maturity is always a topic that cannot be left without Linux and open-source technologies. However, the double success in enterprise-level and consumer-level markets makes Linux a better position in the operating system, at the same time, open source is accepted by more and more commercial companies. In 2015, the development of Linux and open-source technologies is still worth looking forward.