Linux 4.17-rc4 Released As The "Merciless Moray"

[horizonbrave]

So? It's about the sillyness of the names, doesn't matter what it technically is.

I was just sarcastic

[Vistaus]

You can't compare oranges with lemons, Android being an OS and Linux just a kernel.. you seem to miss the point here

So? It's about the sillyness of the names, doesn't matter what it technically is.

[cthart]

Nope, it is a silly name (which is largely an internal matter) that makes Linux not credible as a workhorse operating system.

Well, Linus did say it wasn't going to be professional:

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.

[Bitey]

I can't stress too much the futility of such codenames, at least when they don't match any feature release plan like in the Linux case. Then using the adjective+animal scheme to obtain a blatant nonsense is even worse. Finally mimicking Canonical these days is the deathblow to any FLOSS project credibility.

I am thinking "Merciless Moray" may be quite appropriate considering the spectre/meltdown variants they are going to be dealing with...

[bridgman]

Given that the topic of discussion is correlation between market share and silliness of internal code names, I'm not sure there is a point to miss

[horizonbrave]

I mean: it fits their trend, but it's not like it sounds very serious when you're saying to someone "I'm using my Lollipop device". Yet Android's market share continues to increase despite the silly names.

You can't compare oranges with lemons, Android being an OS and Linux just a kernel.. you seem to miss the point here

[Vistaus]

So the functionality and the massive deployments don't matter. Nope, it is a silly name (which is largely an internal matter) that makes Linux not credible as a workhorse operating system. Never mind that the official release name will either be Linux 4.17 of Linux 15.0.

Exactly. Also, it's not like silly names can't make you popular. Android has the most market share of all mobile OS's, but what are their releases called? Ice Cream Sandwich, Lollipop, Oreo... I mean: it fits their trend, but it's not like it sounds very serious when you're saying to someone "I'm using my Lollipop device". Yet Android's market share continues to increase despite the silly names.

[waxhead]

I can't stress too much the futility of such codenames, at least when they don't match any feature release plan like in the Linux case. Then using the adjective+animal scheme to obtain a blatant nonsense is even worse. Finally mimicking Canonical these days is the deathblow to any FLOSS project credibility.

You know what? I hope he calls the next release Decorative Diarrhea, Moaning Maggot or Perverted Peacock. It is all a joke, and if someone can't look past a stupid name then let them miss out. It is very childish to be so "adult" all the time isn't it?. Relax and have some fun!

[kizzmaul]

Does that last paragraph suggest that OpenCl support is being integrated into mainline kernel? I use AMD gpu's on Linux since their drivers nowadays are so superb. The problem is I don't use *buntu distributions except in my servers and even then it is only because Debian had some outdated packages required by the software I needed to compile. It would be very nice if I could use the compute capabilities of AMD GPU's straight out of the box.

Also, big thanks to you, Michael, for everything you have done for this site. Phoronix is hands-down my favourite tech news site and I think I'll be purchasing a lifetime subscription in the summer when my summer job starts.

[WolfpackN64]

So the functionality and the massive deployments don't matter. Nope, it is a silly name (which is largely an internal matter) that makes Linux not credible as a workhorse operating system. Never mind that the official release name will either be Linux 4.17 of Linux 15.0.

Most people don't know about the codenames and those who are supposed to have a sense of humor.