Extreme Hypothetical Scenarios

[Ozor Mox]

...or EHSs as I like to call them :)

What would you use as your operating system if:

1. Ubuntu disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: unlikely)
2. Debian disappeared tomorrow (no Debian-based distros) (EHS rating: highly unlikely)
3. GNU/Linux disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: not gonna happen)
4. GNU/Linux and BSD disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: more chance of Bill Gates declaring his love for open source)
5. GNU/Linux, BSD and all other open source operating systems and software disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: more chance of Steve Ballmer announcing that he's purchased a pet penguin)

[jkblacker]

1) Find another Linux distro I liked.
2) See above, just less choice!
3) Contemplate becoming a zoo keeper working in the penguin enclosure.
4) Move to a remote island inhabited primarily by penguins.
5) Marry an Empress penguin.

[enopepsoo]

I would be pissed that I deleted my isos, first of all. I do have a virtual machine with debian though. I am sure it is legal to redistribute that.

The only scenario I could see this happening in would be a weird legal situation, like microsoft suing for patent infringement. Even then, no one would let it happen, as a lot of commerce is done through linux. Even so, I doubt they could sue in every country at once.

I think if linux became illegal I would continue to use it.

[karellen]

1. Ubuntu disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: unlikely)
2. Debian disappeared tomorrow (no Debian-based distros) (EHS rating: highly unlikely)
3. GNU/Linux disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: not gonna happen)
4. GNU/Linux and BSD disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: more chance of Bill Gates declaring his love for open source)
5. GNU/Linux, BSD and all other open source operating systems and software disappeared tomorrow (EHS rating: more chance of Steve Ballmer announcing that he's purchased a pet penguin)

1. debian/opensuse/fedora/sled
2. opensuse/fedora/sled
3. xp/vista
4. xp/vista
5. xp/vista

[FurryNemesis]

If 5 happened, buy a Mac.

Then seed my bundle of liveCDs onto the net. It's called Isohunt for a reason, surely?:)

[a12ctic]

OSX is based on next-step, which is based on BSD. I know that I'd be resurecting BeOS :)

[rai4shu2]

1: Switch to Fedora (I probably will anyway at some point).
2 - 5: The internet as we know it would become garbage so I'd unplug my computer from it.

[enopepsoo]

2 - 5: The internet as we know it would become garbage so I'd unplug my computer from it.
lol

[LaRoza]

Write my own operating system.

(Realistically, I save every ISO, including the disks I buy)

[Ozor Mox]

Interesting replies. When I said "disappeared" I did kind of mean never existed, but the saving ISOs trick is a good one! :) Though there would be no new software for the distro if it went down...

I forgot to post my own replies in the original post:

1. Debian.
2. One of the other non-Debian based distributions listed here (http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major).
3. FreeBSD, PC-BSD or DesktopBSD.
4. XP using open source software (as I did before Ubuntu)
5. XP using proprietary software (as I did before knowing about OSS) ... God that would suck

Edit: Actually if 4 or 5 happened I might buy a Mac, using OSS and proprietary respectively)

Does everyone here realistically believe that GNU/Linux, BSD, and other open source software is impossible to kill, even with Microsoft jumping up and down with patent threats in one hand (IP) and suspicious deals in the other (Dell/Novell/MS)?

[Josh1]

If 5 happened, buy a Mac.

Then seed my bundle of liveCDs onto the net. It's called Isohunt for a reason, surely?:)

So you would turn gay?

[Kvark]

If they dissapeared entirely including saved ISOs I'd use:
1-2. Another GNU/Linux distro.
3-4. Dual boot Windows and an open source OS (OpenSolaris? GNU/Hurd?).
5. Dual boot Windows and the first beta of the first new open source OS someone starts to develop.

It would be possible for a corrupt government to kill a closed source OS like Windows. Just raid the company behind it and burn all their backups of the source code and the OS is dead. But it's impossible to kill an open source OS because the source code is too widespread to wipe out. If you put all known developers in jail that would only halt development temporarily until some of the many others who have the source code takes over hidden behind anonymity. It would be just as hard to kill as digital piracy has proven to be.

[rai4shu2]

Only a world-wide catastrophe could cause 3 - 5, in which case you'd likely not even be thinking about computers (or even electrical powered devices).

[Eddie Wilson]

OS9/Level3 or OS/2 warp. At one time I was multitasking using a computer with 128k of ram, and a 68B09E processor (I think thats the correct number, its been a long time) running OS9/Level3.:guitar:
Eddie