Apple's free OS is no threat to Linux, says Torvalds

jeremy · 10-23-2013, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Limnux creator says he'll work on Linux until he gets bored or his doctor decides he can't do it anymore

Apple's move to offer its latest desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks, for free isn't going to affect the Linux operating system at all, its creator Linus Torvalds said.

Linux has been giving its OS away for 22 years, said Torvalds during a question-and-answer session at LinuxCon Europe in Edinburgh on Wednesday. But Apple's decision to offer its OS for free as of Tuesday is entirely different from Linux' philosophy, he said. In fact, one of the reasons Torvalds uses the term open source instead of free software because there is a difference between open and free, he said.

While Apple's Mavericks update might be free it is not open source and people still need expensive hardware to use the OS, he said. "The fact that Apple gives the OS away is completely irrelevant," Torvalds said. "I don't think that it impacts Linux at all."

Torvalds is not thinking of retiring at all, he told the audience when asked what needed to happen for him to retire. "It needs to get not interesting and that hasn't happened yet," he said. But he would probably stop if he gets the feeling that he can't code anymore or the doctor tells him to quit.

More at ComputerWorld...

--jeremy