3arn0wl

To be honest, most people don't give a thought to the OS they use. They haven't considered the ethics/politics. They've probably never even seen a Linux GUI. They bought a device with an OS preinstalled and, so long as it has the apps they want to use : that's fine. Heck! many of them are still on Vista.

The inertia preventing change (anything) is enormous (and even more so if you don't really understand something - like tech) : fundamentally, we're conservative, and lazy, (and frightened) as a species, and if something works... don't mess with it.

I am cautiously optimistic for Linux though, because I can see a couple of catalysts for a sea-change.

Firstly Windows11 - which increasingly relies on an internet connection, and a log in. I think this will bar Micro$oft from poorer communities. And I think it might make governments and businesses wonder what information they're mining.

Secondly the tech trade war - China is one of the biggest producers, if not the biggest producer of electronics, and they constitute 20% of the market too... And they're moving away from US proprietary systems : The electronics which are going to be coming out of China is going to have an Open Source OS.

Couldn't agree more!

These are the same well-rehearsed arguments that I've been making for over a year now.

I can't see the deal being allowed to go ahead - free trade, it seems, has its limits! :P

But whatever happens : Arm is the undisputed loser. Manufacturers will be questioning Arm's management, wondering just how stable the company is.

If the deal doesn't go ahead, Arm will either be floated, or some sort of consortium will be formed between those who use the ISA. In either case, Arm will need to seek out further funding, and compete for projects which are well-funded.

Meanwhile Arm are right to point out that RISC-V has spent the uncertainty maturing its ISA and gaining popularity with OEMs... It might not be too long before they aren't so reliant on ARM to develop their products.

IF the deal were to go ahead, Arm would be stripped for parts. And everyone will be putting in practice their contingency plan to go with RISC-V.

I much prefer the elegant kinetic beauty of wind turbines - especially in a cluster, to the ugly scar of a line of pylons: give me a turbine any day.

I absolutely agree with you!

What happens to Arm if the deal doesn't go ahead?

I think they're right to fear a flotation - the ROI has been surprisingly low for a company that's supposed to be worth US$40B... And Arm are looking to raise money, not produce profits just to give the money to investors.

Qualcomm's idea of users of the ISA clubbing together to maintain it - I guess more-or-less the Foundation model - might raise some money... but wouldn't that reduce Arm to custodians of the specification?

Arm could open source the ISA... That would probably consign RISC-V to the classroom... but it would diminish Arm Ltd. too.

: Chip designers for hire, and scrabbling for funding the next processor.

I would say that RISC-V is going to be competing in all areas, and possibly more quickly than many realise.

• It's already competitive in the microcontroller arena
• more capable processor designs are being worked on
• There're hints of GPUs, and
• RISC-V is competing in the emerging markets - going head-to-head with Arm.

The RISC-V Foundation increased by 133% last year, and with that came funding and greater visibility. The momentum seems to be with RISC-V, and ARM is in the doldrums.

I'm obviously delighted to read an advert promoting Linux over Windows and MacOS from Computerworld, and agree with their reasoning. But I'm also a bit flabbergasted, to be honest!

I wish they had also mentioned all the data mining that we know goes on with Windows, and that we assume goes on with Apple's OSs too. How those OSs can be considered secure; I don't know.

I really hope companies, governments and individuals will at least consider deploying a Linux distribution over the next couple of years, rather than retiring their hardware, and signing up to Windows11.

Yeah. Why not?

Yes... I think that's probably the solution : find an old laptop, and flash something user-friendly onto it. Make sure it's got LibreOffice, a browser and an email client (if that's her thing).

This is a really good piece. Thank you for sharing it.

That's a truly astonishing graphic!

Another vote for Nextcloud from me.