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`Linux in for revolution'
Mini K Joseph
Bangalore : The free and open operating system Linux is likely to undergo a revolutionary change in the next 10 years thanks to the advent of wireless technology and improved bandwidth, according to Linux expert and editor of Wrox Press India (the UK-based publishers of computer books) Frank Pohlmann. Mr Pohlmann told The Financial Express that Linux had better capacity to integrate connectivity access to networks while an increased bandwidth would help widen the worldwide user-base of the operating system. ``Linux is an excellent and flexible platform to integrate various network standards be it wired or wireless,'' he said. He said in six to 12 months, Linux is expected to be on par with Windows or it would even outplay the latter in terms of user-base. According to a recent Gartners study, based on the number of licences given to operating systems, Windows currently has 43 per cent share in the operating system space as against 27 per cent (it was 8 per cent three years ago) in case of Linux, Unix has 9per cent while the rest was with others. ``Linux has completed 25 per cent of its evolution against 80 per cent that of Windows,'' Mr Pohlmann said.According to Mr Pohlmann, many IT corporates have already earmarked huge sums towards improving the efficiency of Linux. IBM had announced an investment of around $1 billion towards Linux in the next three years while Compaq Computers was also believed to be making significant investments to this end. In the last six months, Dell Computers, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Compaq have been deploying Linux on their systems besides allocating considerable amount of investment to work on products that would run on Linux, he said. ``Linux has been currently rewritten to match any architecture for various utilities including games,'' Mr Pohlmann said. The UK-based Wrox was established in 1994 as a book publishing company which currently has over 80 per cent market share in books (25 per cent in the US alone) on computer programming. A couple of years ago, the company set up a knowledge management arm with a view to push information on the Net. It also conducts series of workshops and seminars on Linux across the globe toadvocate the use of Linux and also to educate software developers and corporates. Wrox recently launched e-books and e-publishing. ASP Today is a leading online publication from its e-publishing stable. The company currently has sales offices across the world including India, Singapore, Australia and Paris besides UK and the US. It recently opened an editorial office in Mumbai and six books are currently under publishing. Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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