What Is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating (Part II) System - The Future of Linux

Linux is already successful on many different kinds of devices, but there are also many technological areas where Linux is moving towards, even as desktop and server development continues to grow faster than any other operating system today.

Linux is being installed on the system BIOS of laptop and notebook computers, which will enable users to turn their devices on in a matter of seconds, bringing up a streamlined Linux environment. This environment will have Internet connectivity tools such as a web browser and an e-mail client, allowing users to work on the Internet without having to boot all the way into their device's primary operating system--even if that operating system is Windows.

At the same time, Linux is showing up on mobile Internet devices (MIDs). This includes embedded devices such as smartphones and PDAs, as well as netbook devices--small laptop-type machines that feature the core functionality of their larger counterparts in a smaller, more energy-efficient package.

The growth of cloud computing is a natural fit for Linux, which already runs many of the Internet's web servers. Linux enables cloud services such as Amazon's A3 to work with superior capability to deliver online applications and information to users.

Related to Linux' growth in cloud computing is the well-known success of Linux on supercomputers, both in the high-performance computing (HPC) and high-availability (HA) areas, where academic research in physics and bioengineering, and firms in the financial and energy industries need reliable and scalable computing power to accomplish their goals.

Many of the popular Web 2.0 services on the Internet, such as Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, and Google all rely on Linux as their operating system. As new web services arrive in the future, Linux will increasingly be the platform that drives these new technologies.