7.3.3 OverheadsRSH and File IO

obtained, or requiring so much specificity that programming is difficult. The programmer should to be cognizant of memory hierarchies, bandwidths and latencies, but should not necessarily control them directly. Devising and implementing new programming models is a major research effort which may bear fruit in the coming years.
10.8 Will Linux Survive the Mass Market?
There is much discussion today about the future of Linux and its vulnerability to the "juggernaut" of the dominating PC operating system. How can Linux survive when Windows NT is taking over the world? Or so goes one of many forms of the argument. But the argument is fallacious because it is based on the underlying assumption that Linux and other operating systems are in competition. With the possible exception of BSD, this is essentially untrue. Linux and NT serve two different communities. Linux is no threat to NT. It has a tiny installed base compared to Microsoft's products, and does not support the same base of shrink-wrap applications.
The key point in determining the outcome of this non-competition is how Linux was created. It did not result from some corporate board room decision or the plans of some marketing department. It was created by and for people who wanted it. Today, it matures and evolves driven by that same community. No external influence is going to kill Linux. As long as the people who make up the Linux community continue to want it, Linux will continue to prosper, even to the point of spawning support companies. If Linux dies, it will do so because that same community finds something better to meet their needs. Perhaps this will be some future descendent of the current Microsoft offerings. Perhaps not. In any event, the decision will be based on capability, not on the decisions of corporate CIOs. Today, Linux continues the Unix tradition, making Unix-like systems more widely available than ever before. Today, Microsoft continues to develop the set of software environments and tools that serve the needs of its customers. Both have a place and serve a useful purpose. Neither is in conflict with the goals and market of the other. This chapter is being typed on a current generation laptop computer that hosts both Windows 95 and Linux as co-resident operating systems; there is plenty of room for both.

 



How to Build a Beowulf
How to Build a Beowulf: A Guide to the Implementation and Application of PC Clusters (Scientific and Engineering Computation)
ISBN: 026269218X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1999
Pages: 134

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