A lot has been spilled over the Linux ecosystem in 2023: scandals, controversial decisions, a change of course towards full AI acceptance, and much more. But 2023 is also the year of opening with Rust, the year of change for the Indian Ministry of Defense, which abandoned Windows for Linux, and the year of growth in the use of the operating system.
The GNOME Foundation stirs controversy by hiring a professional shaman as its executive director
In October, the GNOME Foundation announced the appointment of a new executive director: Holly Million.
Holly brings three decades of invaluable experience in nonprofit management and has served as a consultant, development director, executive director and board member for numerous organizations. In particular, she founded the nonprofit organization Artists United, dedicated to empowering individual artists and promoting collaboration across artistic disciplines for the benefit of the community. Additionally, Holly served as Executive Director of the BioBricks Foundation, an international non-profit open source biotechnology organization.
Holly holds a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard University. His academic training combined with his extensive professional background gives him a unique perspective that will undoubtedly contribute to the growth and success of the GNOME Foundation.
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However, some observers were skeptical about Holly Million's capabilities in the software field. Bryan Lunduke, a GNU/Linux specialist, says she clearly has no experience in the software world, neither GNOME nor GNU/Linux. He also questions the reasons that led Holly Million to hide her past as a shaman.
Only 2% of the Linux Foundation's revenue is spent on kernel development
At the end of December, the foundation published the 2023 edition of its annual report on the state of the ecosystem around the Linux kernel and contains information that is causing controversy in the community. The report shows that the Linux Foundation spent only 2% of its revenue on Linux kernel development in 2023. The budget allocated to Linux had already been reduced to 3.2% in 2022, compared to 3.4% in 2021. In contrast, The Linux Foundation has invested 25% of its revenue in cloud computing (containers, virtualization) and 12% in AI (machine learning, data analysis, etc.).
In 2022, the Linux Foundation's total revenue was $243 million and 3.2% of that amount was spent on Linux, about $4.86 million. In the community, many critics find this amount paltry and believe that the Linux kernel should be the main project on which the organization spends the majority of its budget. Most of the budget is used for projects that have nothing to do with Linux. For some reason, the initiative's goal has shifted toward a vague notion of “saving the world” rather than supporting the development and adoption of the Linux ecosystem, one critic wrote.
However, the report suggests that Linux development is on the right track: in 2021 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Linux kernel. Two years later, Linux is still one of the top three open source projects in the world in terms of development speed. Each version is the result of the work of thousands of contributors around the world and numerous organizations. The kernel community actively maintains a continuous stream of innovative improvements to expand Linux's footprint and improve its capabilities.
Below are the expenses for other projects during the year:
- Cloud, containers and virtualization: 25%;
- Networks and IT at the edge of the network: 13%;
- AI, machine learning, data and analytics: 12%;
- Web and application development: 11%;
- Transversal technologies: 8%;
- Privacy and security: 4%;
- Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded systems: 4%;
- Blockchain: 4%;
- DevOps, CI/CD and site reliability: 3%;
- Open Source and Compliance Best Practices: 3%;
- System administration: 2%;
- Linux: 2%;
- System technology: 2%;
- Storage: 2%;
- Open material 1%;
- Critical security systems: 1%;
- Visual effects: 1%.
GitHub will rely on AI to build a universal IDE with Copilot and Copilot Chat
GitHub, the collaborative development platform, has announced its relaunch of Copilot, its artificial intelligence-based programming support tool.
GitHub said the relaunch of Copilot aims to make the platform a “universal integrated development environment” where developers can find everything they need to build, share and deploy software. New features announced include Copilot Chat, a virtual assistant that answers developer questions about code, technologies, best practices and more. Copilot Chat uses the same technology as Copilot, but does not generate code, but rather natural language answers accompanied by relevant links, examples, graphics or images.
While the impact of this change on the Linux and open source world as a whole may be small (since many projects simply migrate to a different version control platform), it is still strange enough to warrant attention.
The Flatpak package management system is no longer included by default in official Ubuntu releases
Canonical has announced that it will no longer ship Flatpak as part of the default installation of the various official Ubuntu releases, consistent with the practices of the main Ubuntu distribution. The Flatpak packaging format has become very popular among Linux users due to its convenience and ease of use. Canonical will focus exclusively on its own package management system, Snap. This decision caused displeasure among some members of the community, as they had the impression that the distribution made this decision without considering its users.
During the announcement, Philipp Kewisch, community engineering manager at Canonical, said the decision was based on a desire to improve the Ubuntu experience for new users while respecting how existing users customize their own experience. Ubuntu prioritizes Deb and Snap, its standard packaging technologies, but no longer offers a standard competitor. This decision is described as an effort to ensure consistency and simplicity for users.
By focusing on these technologies, Ubuntu claims to be able to better support the community in solving software-related problems. Although Canonical does not have complete control over every Snap package published in the Snap Store, it does have some control over the format itself. This makes it easier for Canonical to diagnose and resolve issues that arise with packaging or distribution. Additionally, because Canonical operates the official Snap Store, it has some control over the quality of the packages it contains. She can work with developers to ensure that packages meet certain standards and do not contain obvious bugs or security vulnerabilities.
Ubuntu (and its parent company Canonical) remain a major force in the Linux world. This change is therefore remarkable. What impact will this have on the Ubuntu user base? This remains to be seen.
Red Hat and IBM
Red Hat was purchased by IBM in 2019. In 2023, Red Hat started the year with a series of significant layoffs (including the head of the Fedora project and its community distribution), and then Red Hat stopped work on LibreOffice…then Red Hat restricted access to the GPL source code from Red Hat Linux.
But all of these elements were just a taste of what happened at the end of the year.
In December 2023, a massive series of leaks exposed racist and discriminatory programs at Red Hat and parent company IBM, including racist hiring policies and racist training programs.
What do lawsuits and negative public reactions mean for Red Hat in 2024*? How will all of this affect Linux in the future (given Red Hat's massive Linux support)? We'll know soon…
But 2023 was also the year of several good news for Linux
Rust in the Linux kernel: a promising project, but not without complications
Rust, a modern and secure programming language, has been attracting the interest of Linux kernel developers for several years. The topic came up again at the Kernel Maintainers Summit 2023. As Miguel Ojeda, lead developer of the Rust for Linux project, pointed out, the number of people interested in using Rust for kernel development has increased significantly over the past year.
Three gaming-oriented Linux operating systems beat Windows 11 in gaming benchmarks
Linux gaming performance has been improving for years, but how good is it? ComputerBase compared three different Linux operating systems with Windows 11 in several benchmark tests and found that all three systems were able to outperform Microsoft's latest operating system. Additionally, all three Linux variants were able to achieve their impressive performance while running all tested titles via Valve's Proton compatibility layer.
The three Linux operating systems tested by ComputerBase are Arch Linux, Pop!_OS and Nobara OS. Arch is the “Linux” of the three, with a minimalist default installation that requires customization from the user to get the most out of it. At the same time, it offers some of the fastest software and operating system updates of any Linux distribution. In case you didn't know, Valve's SteamOS 3, which powers the Steam Deck, is based on Arch Linux.
The Indian Ministry of Defense has decided to replace Windows with Maya
Given the increase in cyberattacks and malware attacks on the country's defense and critical infrastructure, the Ministry of Defense has decided to replace the Microsoft Windows operating system of all computers connected to the Internet with a new operating system, Maya, locally developed free software Ubuntu.
Maya has the user interface and all the features of Windows and users will not feel much difference when switching to this system. The initial aim is to have Maya installed on all internet-connected computers in South Block by August 15, an official involved in the process said. Additionally, an endpoint detection and protection system, Chakravyuh, will also be installed on these systems.
According to Statcounter, Linux barely has a 4% share of the desktop market
This is a constant with Linux: market share in the desktop computing space, dominated by Microsoft and its various versions of Windows, will be in the single digits. The latest figures from the Statcounter barometer show that Linux has a share of almost 4% of the desktop market. In September 2017, OS exceeded the 3% market share, which was considered a historic milestone since it had only managed to exceed the 2% mark at the end of 2016.
And you ?
Which operating system are you using?
What news directly or indirectly affecting the Linux ecosystem impressed you the most?