The Linux Foundation Diversity & Inclusivity

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/ ^ | June 9, 2024 | Linux Foundation

[fireman15]

Diversity & Inclusivity

The power of collaboration is greater when many different perspectives are included.

Addressing Diversity and Inclusivity

A diversity of ideas and contributions, one that originates from a diverse community, from all walks of life, cultures, countries, and skin colors—is vital for building sustainable and healthy open source communities. Individuals from diverse backgrounds inject new and innovative ideas to advance an inclusive and welcoming ecosystem for all. Linux Foundation is committed to building diverse and inclusive communities. Creating those diverse communities requires effort and commitment to creating inclusive and welcoming spaces. We continue to work to address this problem through various initiatives, including:

Inclusive Language Efforts

Communities that adopt inclusive language and actions will be able to attract and retain individuals from diverse backgrounds. The Linux kernel community adapted inclusive language in Linux 5.8 release showing its commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. For other projects, the launched at KubeCon North America to standardize inclusive language across the industry.

Open Hardware Diversity Alliance

The Open Hardware Diversity Alliance is a RISC-V incubating project with the mission of bringing together the open hardware community to provide programs, networking opportunities, and learning to encourage participation and support to the professional advancement of women and underrepresented individuals in open source hardware.

Software Developer Diversity and Inclusion

We are also focusing on Science and Research to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in Software Engineering. Our new Software Developer Diversity and Inclusion (SDDI) project will draw on science and research to deliver resources and best practices that increase D&I in software engineering.

Training and Certification

The Linux Foundation provides free training to women and underrepresented communities to support career development. More than 100,000 women have taken our free, Massive Online Open Courses (MooCs) in partnership with edX.

[zeugma]

I never liked it or its cumbersome cryptic companion, journald.

Indeed. I put this in as a weekly crontab. You'd be amazed at how much space you recover, especially the first time you run it.

#!/usr/bin/bash
journalctl --disk-usage
journalctl --rotate
journalctl --vacuum-time=7d

[fireman15]

But most anything good or worth having has a cost to it.

In our society there are very few things that are actually free. Many of the companies who develop the major Linux distributions have somehow managed to make a lot of money despite business models that rely on giving the fruits of their labor and investments to many people for nothing. The mechanics of how this works are not well understood or even acknowledged by many here.

How software companies actually make $Billions is not well understood by most people, often including those who are very familiar with the ins and out of using the actual software. This seems to be true of many of the people on this forum who appear to be very knowledgeable about how to use Linux distributions. When people have gaps in their understanding, they typically use their imaginations to fill in the blanks and/or are vulnerable to believing over simplified explanations and myths that have become perpetuated in our society.

In February 2024 Linux “desktop software” reached 4.03% worldwide market share which was a new record. If you count Chrome as a Linux desktop operating system it increased to 6.34%. At the same time Apple's macOS, saw its desktop market share drop from 21.32 percent in June 2023 to 15.42 percent in February 2024. At the same time Windows software which dropped to a low of 68.23% in June of 2023 recovered to 72.17% and seemed to be continuing its upward trend.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/linux-continues-growing-market-share-reaches-4-of-desktops/

While these are interesting number they vastly understate the actual usage of Linux based operating systems. Linux absolutely dominates the server market, the supercomputer market, smaller devices including smart phones, streaming devices, and just about every other electronic gadget that one can imagine.

For example, all of the Amazon Echo devices and their supplemental accessories are Linux-powered and run on a modified Linux kernel. The same is true of their FireTV, FireTab, and Kindle e-reader gadgets.

Apple has established a niche in the cell phone/tablet market in the US. But, as mentioned above, they have slipped to about 15.4% of the desktop/laptop OS market. Microsoft is still the king when it comes to the desktop/laptop OS market.

All the griping and hand wringing we see here is for naught. Linux based systems do what they do, Apple does what it does, and Microsoft does what it does... they each have areas that they excel in that have been decided by the market's response to their products. And this is going to be the situation for the foreseeable future.

This forum is a place where you can catch a lot of flack for stating the obvious. Unfortunately, the naivety of people using Linux based products and operating systems makes them very vulnerable to those who make great efforts to rip everyone else off. There is no moral superiority granted to those who choose to avoid Microsoft's products. And the safety and security for the alternatives are typically no greater either. Linux based systems are by nature easily modified by third parties and the security systems in place run from great to non-existent.