Linux founder says OS is bloated

"Huge and scary"

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22 September 2009 11:20 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Linus Torvals, the creator of the Linux kernel and therefore the founder of the open-source OS, has claimed that the operating system that he birthed has become "bloated", labelling it "huge and scary now".

As a result of its success and more widespread adoption, the list of tasks that it's called on to do has increased, and therefore so has the scope of the operating system. It's been asked to take on much more than it was originally designed for".

Torvalds said: "We are definitely not the streamlined, hyper-efficient kernel I envisioned when I started writing Linux". The criticism stung some Linux fans, who've long labelled Windows as a bloated OS.

However, the Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin noted that Linux is now powering everything from corporate data centres to smartphones, so perhaps it could be argued that such expansion has been necessary for the open-source operating system to survive.

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