Watching the BBC 6 o’clock news tonight (the UK version), I was pleasantly surprised to witness what I see as a ‘tipping point’ in worldwide Linux recognition. There was an item about the imminent release of Windows 7, but unlike the emissions of years ago surrounding the Vista release, which largely consisted of nothing more than a frenzied full-tongue slurp from Microsoft’s backport department, this time there was a much more cautionary tale being told. The BBC referred to the ‘disaster’ of Vista, and mentioned how Windows now had other systems to compete with. Through a cloud came flying the expected Apple logo, and then lo-and-behold, along came Tux, as the voiceover added ‘free Linux systems’ to the list of the opposition, after which came Google (Linux again).
It may be only a small thing, but this simply wouldn’t have happened even three years ago. It was all Windows blah blah blah, with the occasional token Apple reference thrown in. There are many people who have never even heard the word Linux (evident from a recent discussion on a popular UK newspaper blog), so just a tiny reference like this lodging in people’s subconscious is the sort of thing that can have a considerable impact when repeated over time.
Not so considerate were Channel 4 News, who ran an extended report mentioning Apple and Google at the start, but then filling it with screenshots and an interview with the Managing Director of Microsoft UK. Part of the report was itself contained inside a window on a mock-up of the Windows 7 desktop, which served as nothing more than an extended advert for MS. They did go on to suggest competition would be coming from Apple, Google and cloud computing in general, providing proof in the form of the Daily Telegraph who have apparently switched to web-based services. Even so, it’s a different story to a few years ago. I just hope tomorrow’s news items aren’t saturated with reporting of queues at PC stores on Oxford Street, which is the usual lame media offering on these occasions.
How’s the media treating the Windows 7 launch in your own country?