The Linux OS has been around for about 17 years. It has grown in popularity and functionality, but really still has a "cult" following. Check out the above Wikipedia link for the details on its origin etc. Pretty sure most people reading this have a general feel for what it is about.
I am the first to admit that in the early/mid 90s I was really hooked on the entire idea. I had a standard windows machine and also had a "second" machine to tinker with Linux. I was introduced to it by some computer geek friends. It was intriguing to think that we were all very into the "alternative" way of doing things. Once out of school, I was working with some pretty high end CAE software packages and we were running UNIX/Linux etc, so I continued to tinker. I was always partial to SUSE/Linux (before big, bad Novell bought them) I still have it installed on an old laptop and when I really want to geek it out, I fire that bad boy up.
The fact is Linux is becoming mainstream, but not in the conventional way that you may think. It is being used in mobile phones, kiosks, game systems and a whole slew of other industries. The fact is most people are using Linux everyday and probably are not aware of it. But will it become mainstream and be leveraged by the multi-tasking engineer that is running Upfront CAE tools? The same question can be posed to the engineers that are driving MCAD today? The quick and simple answer is-- probably not anytime soon. You will certainly have the renegades out there, those that just can't bring themselves to using Windows. Bold move, but power to them. My gut is that Windows is here to stay for awhile. It's known, it's legacy is overwhelming and let's face it - we all know it pretty well. As a user that is, not in an IT kind of way. I am sure you can pitch it from a security standpoint. I am suggesting from strictly a user's perspective and whether or not large organizations would take the plunge.
I think Linux is being adopted by the analysis community and will continue on that trend. But I think the Upfront community is more mainstream, tends to go with the flow (no pun intended) and these guys are typically windows users.
I think it is a toss up which direction the Upfront community will go; Linux or Mac?
1 comment:
Hmmm. Good distinction- I definitely see some hardcore analyst types (and traditional CFD/FEA tools) going towards linux. But, I don't see it at all in the upfront community.
The canary in the mineshaft on this issue wil be CAD. Unless you see CAD software (and customers) moving to Linux in a big way, it ain't going to happen for upfront CAE.
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