>What are the chances of Linux forking into incompatible operating systems like Unix did?

My personal opinion is: Next to none.

The primary reason is that first, Linux Torvolds holds the copyright to Linux and
nothing goes into the kernel without his blessing. A couple of folks have tried to
market a propriatary 'Linux' kernel and were immediately shot down.

Secondly, Linux is covered by the GPL (GNU Public License , GNU - General Not Unix),
which means ALL source code going into the kernel MUST accompany every copy of the
kernel, or be available on demand.

Thirdly, since corporate greed drove the prorpriatary forking of Unix, the camps were
created because users didn't have access to the source and became dependent on
'embrace and extend' tactics we see used so well today by some other OSs. Because
of the GPL this doesn't happen with Linux.

Fourthly, Linux has been around since 1992. A few early forking attempts were tried by
some in the old Unix camps (the ones that fractured BSD) and they failed miserably
because they couldn't get around the GPL.

Fifthly, NO ONE is going to deliberately branch from Linux into a propriatary fork and
get left behind as Linux expands its functionality into other areas of x86 hardware or new
technology. There are some propriatary RealTime front ends to Linux appearing, but they
act as microsecond capable event interrupts that msg the Linux kernel. That way, they
can take advantage of the Linux development timeline without being left behind.

Sixthly, the biggest source of 'forking' FUD comes from some of the Unix folks like, SCO, and
from Microsoft (see their famous 'Halloween Document'), but it has pretty much died down
when the 'bazzar' nature of Linux kernel development is explained.

Another benefit of the 'bazzar' nature of Linux kernel development is that even if your distro
source goes out of business (SuSE folds up, for example) it really doesn't matter because
the same kernel is used by all Linux distros. Alan Cox is the principal hacker, leading a group
of about 1,200 professional programmers from all over the world. When he completes his
assembly of patches, additions, etc., to the kernel he transmits them to Linus, who does the
final compile and checkout. Then the new release is uploaded to only ONE site on the entire
planet: http://www.kernel.org/. From there it is mirrored and moved to zillions sites around the
globe. Upgrades and maintainence releases of previous versions are posted there too.

A note: Linux kernel versions are numbers as such: x.y.z. The current stable release is 2.2.14.
x is the major release number. We have been at 2 for quite a while and probably for a while yet.
y is the minor release. Even values are stable, odd values are unstable or experimental.
z is the incrementa or maintanence release number.

To summarize: Linux isn't going to fork and it isn't going away.


For PRODUCTION sites only use the STABLE kernel 2.y.z where y is EVEN. (0 is even)