The latest Kerneltrap interview is with Linux guru Alan Cox. He is perhaps the second most influental Linux kernel hacker, next only to Linus. In this interview he talks about himself, his history with computers and Linux, working for Red Hat, Marcello and the 2.4 kernel, the DMCA, the future of Linux, and much more. One brief excerpt . . .

JA: Do you have any predictions as to the future of Linux?

Alan Cox: For the next five years I guess (and its definitely a guess)

• Linux in TV sets/set top boxes becoming much more common
  
• More consolidation
  
• A lot of work on clustering and fault tolerant Linux
  
• Limited desktop penetration, at least until some lawmaker or civil litigants have the guts to get a just settlement out of Microsoft.
  
• People figuring out which software models work best and where
  
• Vastly more software development moving from the EU and USA to Eastern Europe, Brazil and the like, both in
• Linux companies and outside.
  
• Just possibly IBM becoming a Linux vendor proper perhaps by buying out the rest of SuSE.
  
• Possibly Linus becoming directly paid to work on Linux, perhaps via OSDL or a standards group so he isn't “owned” by a vendor — should transmeta die.

(I figure lots of predictions is best. People will forget the ones I get wrong and marvel over the rest)

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