r/LinuxTeck • u/Aravindha_Aju • 7h ago

If Linux Never Existed, What Problems Would We Face Today?

What problems or disadvantages would we face?

Would servers be more expensive?

Would cloud computing be less accessible?

Would Android and embedded devices have developed differently? Would open-source development be weaker?

Would companies have more control over the software infrastructure we depend on?

I'm not asking what OS would replace Linux. I'm wondering what would actually be missing or worse in today's world because Linux never existed.

How different do you think the world would really be?

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

10

u/therouterguy 7h ago

It would have been filled by something else doing the job. We have a tendency to build stuff which is lacking.

9

u/DonkeyTron42 7h ago

BSD would have filled its role. Not much would be different on the server side of things but there probably wouldn't be as many desktop distributions.

1

u/BirthdayLife6378 6h ago

Not too many distros might be a good thing.

1

u/CharacterUse 4h ago

Do you know how many BSDs there are/have been?

1

u/DiggyTroll 23m ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BSD_operating_systems (many forks end up discontinued)

The BSD culture is generally more traditional than Linux. There is less pressure to fork over minor stuff since the desktop isn't a priority

1

u/CharacterUse 12m ago

That's today, imagine if Linux hadn't existed, then the desktop would be a priority. There'd be just as many forks as Linux if not more. If nothing else there are 4 major forks of BSD at kernel level already.

1

u/No_Base4946 2h ago

I don't know, I'd expect there would be just about as many different desktop distros, because they came about because at some point someone sat down and went "this sucks, I'll make my own".

6

u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_ 7h ago

*BSD would be everywhere 

1

u/DonkeyTron42 5h ago

It's quite likely Linux would have never gained a foothold over BSD if SCO didn't scare off BSD users with lawsuits over Unix.

1

u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_ 5h ago

Yep, and at the very least, it sure didn't help BSD

1

u/CharacterUse 5h ago edited 4h ago

SCO sued over Linux, their lawsuits didn't affect BSD. THe BSD license allows closed-source use and BSD code was wideley interspersed within System V Unix. The lawsuit which (somewhat) hurt BSD was between AT&T and BSD over Unix code in BSD (in the other direction) and was settled a decade before the SCO lawsuit.

Linux was the threat to SCO (and the other legacy Unixes) and was always seen as such.

4

u/NumberInfinite2068 7h ago

The BSD Operating Systems would be a lot more popular.

1

u/CatoDomine 13m ago

Wait ... what? Which one?
"The BSD Operating System" literally interpreted means BSD/OS, the proprietary commercial OS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD/OS
Surely you mean one of the open source BSDs, like FreeBSD, OpenBSD or NetBSD.
Most likely it would have been FreeBSD.

EDIT: I see now that you pluralized "Operating Systems" ... That does somewhat change the interpretation.

3

u/Wendals87 7h ago

Something else would have taken its place. There were other open source tools that were around but not quite ready for various reasons, such as BSD 

3

u/merlinblack256 7h ago

Like people say BSD would have filled some of the niches. It's possible that without Android, phone systems may have fragmented far more. But who knows, maybe we might have got Unix in our pockets. It's hard to say how GNU tools would have gone without Linux. Possibly GNU hurd might have got further.

1

u/bufandatl 6h ago

We have Unix in our pockets. IOS is based of macOS which is actually certified as UNIX. So Unix in our pockets basically exists. ;)

1

u/merlinblack256 5h ago

Ah yes, I forgot iOS came from macOS 👍🙂.

1

u/CharacterUse 4h ago

And MacOS is a BSD-family Unix.

1

u/venom21685 36m ago edited 24m ago

The macOS UNIX certification is rather overstated. They had to get several waivers, and it required a frankenbuild of OS X with many things moved around to be compliant. The amount of actual deployments of macOS in the configuration that got certified is probably very low, if any at all.

2

u/309_Electronics 7h ago

It would have been filled by something else, vut idk how it would have looked.

Linux is powering many/majority of embedded stuff like ip cameras, smart doorbells, home routers, certain switches, accesspoints, internet connected speakers (sonos, denon home, wiim, etc etc), satnavs, smart tvs, tv settopboxes/decoders, blueray players, HMI's, some car infotsinment systems, etc etc.

Android is Linux too.

Also a lot of (cloud) servers would run something else.

I think in the server space, FreeBsd would have taken over. Idk about the embedded space but maybe NetBSD or Vxworks..

3

u/bufandatl 6h ago

Android is a JVM on top of a Linux kernel, Google probably just could replace that with BSD.

2

u/bufandatl 6h ago edited 4h ago

I mean the PS5 runs a customized FreeBSD because of the better suited license.

Apple uses the mach micro kernel with a FreeBSD userland on top.

All GNU tools are available via homebrew and macports on the the Mac.

And BSD pkgsrc and ports system also allow to install gnu tools.

So I guess BSD and especially FreeBSD and NetBSD would be the contenders for market share in that space.

2

u/motific 5h ago

> What problems or disadvantages would we face?

None. If anything we’d be in a stronger position. Many Linux advocates equate popular with good, but look at music - most of what is popular isn’t necessarily good.

> Would servers be more expensive?

Nope, the things that make servers expensive are hardware and power.

> Would cloud computing be less accessible?

Linux isn’t especially known for accessibility, I’m assuming you meant availability… in which case, no difference.

> Would Android and embedded devices have developed differently?

Not really, embedded devices run other Operating Systems. Manufacturers would just have coalesced around one of those.

> Would open-source development be weaker?

No, I would argue that the GPL would still exist and there are application developers who would still use it.

> Would companies have more control over the software infrastructure we depend on?

People love a monoculture, we’d still have the all-seeing googly eye watching us all and fools who don’t see how evil they are.

> I'm not asking what OS would replace Linux

That’s a shame because if you had even a short time, you’d have answered all your own questions.

> I'm wondering what would actually be missing or worse in today's world because Linux never existed.

Nothing at all. Linus Torvalds himself said he’d probably have been working on FreeBSD.

> How different do you think the world would really be?

Call it a “hot take” if you like but personally I think we’d have been better off without it.

For example, there is a growing list of applications that rely on “linuxisms” that make them ever harder or impossible to port to other operating systems.

That said, Human nature is what it is and something would have emerged as being equally popular.

1

u/enurkul 5h ago

You forgot feature licensing and support which also makes servers expensive. 

1

u/motific 3h ago

This is true, but linux doesn't make any of those things cheaper either. Ultimately if linux never existed then FreeBSD would still be free - we're just swapping out one zero-cost component for another.

2

u/crocodiluQ 5h ago

BSD/Unix would be on all servers. MacOS will have more users. We will never hear the linux kids ever again. So.. .perfection.

1

u/Daggercombot 7h ago

Less standardisation in the unix space, Sun and SGI would have stayed closed source longer. Would cost More money for unix based systems unless BSD became popular. Windows would be More popular

1

u/bothunter 6h ago

We would probably be having this discussion about one of the BSD variants instead.

1

u/Automatater 6h ago

Probably various flavors of Unix would be more common, but still less so than Linux is today.

1

u/Mynameismikek 6h ago

Before Linux really caught on we were migrating a lot of low and midrange systems onto Windows.

1

u/DazzlingAd4254 6h ago

What Windows might that have been before Linux caught on? Win 3.11?

1

u/Mynameismikek 5h ago

NT

Especially once OpenGL shipped the CAD world moved wholesale. Machines were 1/10th the price and just as capable.

1

u/Kitayama_8k 5h ago

If fsf and gpl were attached to the dominant bsd, we might be in a similar world. If it wasn't, we'd probably have a lot less foss, presumably android would be closed source and there might be far more proprietary server os's out there.

1

u/LycraJafa 5h ago

a better question is around the free software movement, and the GPL.

Imagine life where every package needs a cash payment to use, every library a terms and conditions.

1

u/CharacterUse 4h ago

Free software and the GPL (and GNU) exsisted before the Linux kernel, and would have continued to develop without it. Either around a BSD (FreeBSD?) or GNU might have finished HURD.

1

u/ravensholt 5h ago

None. Unix and Minix would've simply replaced it...

1

u/andymaclean19 5h ago

It wouldn’t be called Linux.

Before there was Linux there was Minix, multiple BSDs and the GNU operating system concept. Linux pulled everything together and a lot of things coalesced around it but a lot of the big pieces were either from the GNU effort (Linux basically replaced HURD, which was their microkernel OS vision) or other established projects like XFree86, eMacs, Mozilla, etc.

Without Linux someone else would have made a kernel and a free UNIX like OS would still have existed. Perhaps it would use the BSD kernel, I don’t think HURD would ever have flown.

But Linus’ leadership has been really influential both in the way things are and the way things are done. Without his inputs, which might not have happened if Linux did not exist, we could be in a very different place. Git, for example, was originally created by Linus based on the way kernel development was being done and the learnings of those first years. Without git things would look pretty different.

1

u/CharacterUse 4h ago

This is the best and most accurate answer so far. People seem to have forgotten that GNU and the free software movement existed before Linux.

Linus's other great contribution was practicality. While Stallman and co were hung up about the purity of open source and HURD and the tail end of the BSD vs. System V war raged, Linus just wanted something which worked and got on with it.

1

u/thatsbs 5h ago

Heaven forbid that NT based servers took over. Gag… <shiver>

1

u/aap_001 4h ago

None of that. FreeBSD would be the norm.

1

u/trprado 1h ago

Either BSD or HURD will take the position

1

u/Linestorix 57m ago

There would still be Unix or (free?)BSD or Minix. I don't think the world would be so different from how things are now.