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+ <div class="nav-text notice">2026 / 02 / 11</div>
+ <div class="nav-text unlink">Linux is Dead</div>
+ </div>
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+ <a href="news/2026/2026_02_11-linux_is_dead.html#what_is_linux" class="nav-text link"><div>What is Linux</div></a>
+ </div>
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+ <a href="news/2026/2026_02_11-linux_is_dead.html#system_disease" class="nav-text link"><div>System Disease</div></a>
+ </div>
+ <div class="nav-item block">
+ <a href="news/2026/2026_02_11-linux_is_dead.html#firefox_dead_standards" class="nav-text link"><div>Firefox and the Dead Standards</div></a>
+ </div>
+ <div class="nav-item block">
+ <a href="news/2026/2026_02_11-linux_is_dead.html#rust_disease" class="nav-text link"><div>RuST Disease</div></a>
+ </div>
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+ <header class="section-header header">
+ <h1 class="section-title h h1">2026 / 02 / 11 - Linux is Dead</h1>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="main-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ I have spent a great deal of time observing <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> over the years.
+ This is not to say that the <strong class="strong">Linux Kernel</strong> no longer exists.
+ Instead, it is to say that the concept, the movement, the ideology, the drive, and the freedom that all represents the concept that is <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> is what has died.
+ </p>
+
+ <section id="what_is_linux" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="what_is_linux-title" class="section-title h h2">What is Linux</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ There is a common misconception on what <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> actually is.
+ <strong class="strong">Linux</strong>, or more specifically, the <strong class="strong">Linux Kernel</strong> is just an <strong class="strong">Operating System</strong>.
+ It is neither a movement, nor is it a <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ A <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong> on the other hand, is a complete system containing the <strong class="strong">Operating System</strong> and the <strong class="strong">User Space Software</strong> as needed and as defined by a given <strong class="strong">Distributor</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ Treating a <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong> as the same as an <strong class="strong">Operating System</strong> is a common mistake due to how other <strong class="strong">Distributions</strong> tightly couple their <strong class="strong">Operating System</strong> to their <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong>.
+ An example of tightly coupling the <strong class="strong">Operating System</strong> with the <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong> is <strong class="strong">Microsoft Windows</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ This language situation has resulted in the term <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> being used to also represent the open-source ideology and movement that is guided by the open-source flag ship known as the <strong class="strong">Linux Kernel</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ It is this ideology and movement, this concept and drive, that is casually referred to as <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> that has truly died.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="system_disease" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="system_disease-title" class="section-title h h2">System Disease</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ A healthy body is generally disease free.
+ An unhealthy body often has some disease or another.
+ In this case, a product called <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> has spread amongst the open-source <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> community.
+ This software project brought in designs proven to be bad and insecure in technology as seen in products such as <strong class="strong">Micrsoft Windows</strong>.
+ Note that this is not specific to <strong class="strong">Microsoft Windows</strong> it is more to say that <strong class="strong">Microsoft Windows</strong> is a prominent example of this flawed and insecure design paradigm.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ There are two major aspects of this <strong class="strong">System Disease</strong> that have infested <strong class="strong">Linux</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <ol>
+ <li>The divide and conquer troll like community</li>
+ <li>The infectious nature of the technical SystemD design.</li>
+ </ol>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ If <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> were like any other open-source project, then people would simple use it or simply not use it.
+ Very few people would really care what another person uses in their <strong class="strong">Distribution</strong>.
+ However, for whatever reason, trolls came out of the wood works to attack, harass, and polarize the open-source community.
+ This caused <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> to get more attention than it would have and actually helped to expand its popularity, despite its inherit technical flaws.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ To make matters worse, many <strong class="strong">Distributions</strong> already had a core design and a thriving community.
+ A community that already provided what they were looking for but now were being forced to change the entire foundation of their <strong class="strong">Distributions</strong>.
+ This not only made many of their own users unhappy, it also further polarized the open-source community.
+ And thus began the first symptom of the <strong class="strong">System Disease</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ As with all diseases, the normal healthy functions that had previously worked began to function improperly.
+ The <strong class="strong">System Disease</strong> started requiring other software, unrelated to <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong>, to suddenly require support for <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> in order to function properly or at all.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ This is the hallmark of a virus where the project requires other projects to adopt its design.
+ Which then forces even more projects to have to support the virus.
+ If anything, one could call <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> one of the most dangerous software viruses in <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> <strong class="strong">Distributions</strong> at this time.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ <strong class="strong">Distributions</strong> designed for small <strong class="strong">Personal Computers</strong>, like the <strong class="strong">Pinephone</strong> have suffered significant problems due to the <strong class="strong">System Disease</strong>.
+ The <strong class="strong">Post Market OS</strong> is one such example where the small team managing the project could no longer sustain the efforts needed to gut out the <strong class="strong">System Disease</strong> from the various projects that used to work in <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> without caring about what system initializer software is being used.
+ The <strong class="strong">Post Market OS</strong> has had to abandon their previous effort and instead embrace <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ The <a href="https://linuxfromscratch.org/" class="link external">Linux From Scratch</a> team has even been forced to change the future direction of their project.
+ Consider this quote from the <a href="https://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/sympa/arc/lfs-announce/2026-02/msg00000.html" class="link external">February 1, 2026 Future direction for LinuxFromScratch announcement</a>
+ <em class="em">"With some regret, LFS/BLFS will no longer be developing the System V versions of the books. ... As a personal note, I do not like this decision. To me LFS is about learning how a system works. Understanding the boot process is a big part of that. systemd is about 1678 "C" files plus many data files. System V is "22" C files plus about 50 short bash scripts and data files. Yes, systemd provides a lot of capabilities, but we will be losing some things I consider important."</em> by <em class="em">Bruce Dubbs</em>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ Abandoning their own community and embracing <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> in turn further fractures the open-source community, fragmenting them into smaller groups that cannot independently sustain all of the software that is needed in this day and age due to the ever increasing complexity of software.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="firefox_dead_standards" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="firefox_dead_standards-title" class="section-title h h2">Firefox and the Dead Standards</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ Open-source software over the past decade, in general and outside of encryption algorithms, has actually stagnated in development.
+ The perception of this as a whole, however, is quite the opposite due to the advancements in hardware available as <strong class="strong">Personal Computers</strong> and availability through browsers.
+ Think of how the <strong class="strong">Personal Computer</strong>, known as the <strong class="strong">iPhone</strong> evolved and subsequently, the <strong class="strong">Personal Computer</strong> known as the <strong class="strong">Android</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ Web browsers, like <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong>, continued adding new features at a fast pace due to how the <abbr title="Hyper Text Markup Language version 5">HTML5</abbr> standard ended up being designed as a <strong class="strong">Living Standard</strong>.
+ Most of the functionality provided in web browsers is actually functionality that <strong class="strong">Personal Computers</strong> already provided.
+ The reason why a large number of the populace has not noticed that they are being sold what they already have is because propriety software designs tended to prevent them from using most of the existing technology and open-source software was still catching up.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ This <strong class="strong">Living Standard</strong> might allow for fast development but it ultimately undermines what a standard is.
+ Details of this are described in the <a href="news/2024/2024_06_14-living_standard_dead.html" class="link">A Living Standard is a Dead Standard</a> article.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ As the <strong class="strong">Living Standard</strong> changed, so did <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong>.
+ <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong> brought in a new language called <strong class="strong">Rust</strong>.
+ Regardless of whether a user liked <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> or not, separating from <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong> has become incredibly difficult when paired with a <strong class="strong">Living Standard</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ Old browsers that should work but no longer can work.
+ New browsers that should be able to be compiled and tweaked cannot easily be done so.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ Even if users wanted to break away from <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong> (or similar browsers), they cannot do so very easily.
+ With a fractured open-source community, this has become even more difficult.
+ <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong> appears to have taken advantage of this and has betrayed the open-source ethos by adding in practices that were historically reserved to propriety software or malicious open-source projects.
+ Telemetry.
+ Spy ware.
+ There are many terms for this behavior.
+ And <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong> even did so without the users consent.
+ Just read up on the <strong class="strong"><a href="https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/stable/xsoft/firefox.html" class="link external">Beyond Linux From Scratch Firefox Guide</a></strong>.
+ Quote: <em class="em">"... With the Addons Fiasco, Mozilla was found to be collecting user's data, including saved passwords and web form data, without users consent. Mozilla was also found shipping updates to systems without the user's knowledge or permission..."</em>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ This so called <strong class="strong">Living Standard</strong> has helped ensure that no developer can easily break away and develop an alternative to malicious browsers such as <strong class="strong">Mozilla Firefox</strong>.
+ The lack of a stable standard is now shown to become a cancer upon the open-source community and therefore the ideology and movement known as <strong class="strong">Linux</strong>.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="rust_disease" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="rust_disease-title" class="section-title h h2">RuST Disease</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ Behind the scenes, another disease, known as <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> has been spreading.
+ This programming language, known as <strong class="strong">Rust</strong>, is similar to <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> in the terms of how there is a polarizing troll community attacking it and in effect raising attention to it beyond what would otherwise be natural.
+ Unlike <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong>, however, <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> makes claims to be even more secure.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The general idea behind the security claimed by <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> is on the principle that other people cannot program correctly, or more specifically safely. Therefore, they should not be allowed to program and instead the <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> compiler will handle the details.
+ This essentially takes the responsibility and burden of ensuring the code is safe and secure and brings it into the compiler.
+ Distributors and other project developers are no longer able to manage security and practices their way and must trust the <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> compiler to be correct.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The behavior of the <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> compiler is not really the main concern here.
+ Instead, <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> brings in two enormous security threats.
+ </p>
+ <ol>
+ <li>The <strong class="strong">Cargo</strong> dependency manager.</li>
+ <li>Not having a standard (no stable <abbr title="Application Programming Interface">API</abbr>).</li>
+ </ol>
+ <p class="p">
+ <strong class="strong">Cargo</strong> dependency manager decides it knows what dependencies should be used rather than letting the <strong class="strong">Distributor</strong>, or even local user, from deciding what they want on their own devices.
+ Furthermore, it tends to try to fetch everything online rather than allowing users to fetch and provide the packages themselves.
+ This vastly increases the attack surface area, exposes privacy concerns, and fails to operate in many different environments such as offline.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The security threat that is <strong class="strong">Cargo</strong> is proven by dependency manages such as <strong class="strong"><abbr title="Node Package Manager">NPM</abbr></strong>.
+ The <strong class="strong"><abbr title="Node Package Manager">NPM</abbr></strong> has a long history of causing security problems due to its design.
+ <strong class="strong">Cargo</strong> acts in the same manner and brings in the same class of exploits.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ This lack of a stable standard coupled with <strong class="strong">Cargo</strong> means that very few programmers will be able to fork a <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> based project, such as <strong class="strong">Firefox</strong>.
+ This, in effect, is a poison to the ideology and movement known as <strong class="strong">Linux</strong>.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="lost_technology" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="lost_technology-title" class="section-title h h2">Lost Technology</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ A long term net effect of situations like those with <strong class="strong">SystemD</strong> and <strong class="strong">Rust</strong> has caused most of the long-standing software to be incompatible with more recent code.
+ Right now, there is still some ability to separate and use older technology.
+ Especially given that most of the newer software is providing what is already available and has already been available for some time, but perhaps with a little less polishing.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The final nail in the coffin that has led me to believe that the ideology and movement that is <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> is dead is that most of the long-standing <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> based software will very soon no longer work.
+ Not because there is a problem with the software.
+ Instead, because the current popular trends are breaking this functionality with code that is both obtuse and obscure.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The code that once defined what <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> is, is now quickly becoming a lost technology.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="the_future" class="section">
+ <header class="section-header header separate">
+ <h2 id="future_plans-title" class="section-title h h2">The Future</h2>
+ </header>
+
+ <div class="section-content">
+ <p class="p">
+ The death of <strong class="strong">Linux</strong> is not intended to mean that open-source itself is dead.
+ Instead, it means that the future movements will actually be something else.
+ Think of this as analogous to that of children of <strong class="strong">Linux</strong>.
+ Similar in some ways and different in others, but ultimately a brand new creation.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The path forward out of this is indeed to create something new.
+ The open-source community, if it is to survive as true open-source community rather than this hollow existence that it is Today, must fork and separate from these badly designed and effectively diseased projects and create something new.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ Real standards should be written that are both open and consistent.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ Decentralized dependency managers should replace centralized managers so that individuals can deviate to their hearts content.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ Browsers should be made simpler and should better utilize what is already available and has already been available in safer and less invasive manner.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ This won't be <strong class="strong">Tux</strong>, as even the <strong class="strong">Linux Kernel</strong> has become infected by the <strong class="strong">RuST Disease</strong>.
+ But it will be something.
+ </p>
+ <p class="p">
+ The future can be bright, but only if the community breaks away from these bad software trends and re-establishes its roots in more sound, secure, private, and decentralized manner using more maintainable and easier to tweak software.
+ Establishing more open standards that provides both a way to freely use and follow as well as a means to deviate and diverge.
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </section>
+
+ <p class="p">
+ <strong class="strong">Kevin Day</strong>
+ </p>
+ </div>
+ </main>
+ </div>
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