Torvalds: Linux to perform better in fair market

Linux founder Linus Torvalds has said he believes his operating system (OS) will do well once the market for such platforms becomes fairer.

Speaking to ComputerWorld Australia, Mr Torvalds said that while 2009 is unlikely to be "the year of the Linux desktop", the gradual success of other open source projects such as OpenOffice.org and Firefox means there is hope for Linux in the future.

Linux currently accounts for 0.85 per cent of the OS market, compared with Windows's 88.68 per cent and the Apple Mac OS's 9.63 per cent, according to Net Applications.

Discussing the benefits of open source software, Mr Torvalds said: "People will realise the lack of tie-in means you can choose a platform and that is much healthier from the market standpoint than having to make a platform decision for an application.

"In a fair market Linux will have a much easier time competing."

Mr Torvalds started work on the Linux OS in 1991 and currently works on the Linux kernel with the Open Source Development Labs consortium, which includes firms such as Red Hat, Novell and IBM.

According to a reliability survey by Yankee Group, Linux distributions Unix and Ubuntu were the most dependable web hosting servers in 2008.