Today in Open Source: Linux turns 22! Plus: A review of Elementary OS, and did Bill Gates fire Steve Ballmer? Linux is 22 Years Old! Linux recently turned twenty two recently. Wow! How time flies! Can you believe it’s been that long already? It seems like just yesterday that Linus created it as a “hobby.” ReadWrite has a good look at the progress made by Linux and Open Source over the years. It’s quite heartening to read, and it really underscores how far we’ve come since it all began. Who knew that things would turn out this way back in those days? There’s a whole lot of money in open source these days. Just counting recent venture capital raised by the cloud and data companies amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. But the soul of open source has not been corrupted. Thanks, in no small degree, to Linus Torvalds and his Quixotic endeavor to change the world with something small that turned into something huge. More at ReadWrite You can read a repost of Linus’ email from way back when he first started Linux in a post made on Google+. One little email started a tidal wave that is still rolling across the world of technology, changing everything in its path. Amazing. Elementary OS Review Elementary OS is another spin based on Ubuntu that is geared toward wooing Mac and Windows users over to Linux. Everyday Linux User has a full review of it, and it looks like it might be a good alternative for those who are tired of Apple’s OS X and Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. Elementary provides a really nice user experience in terms of style, simplicity and performance. For a user coming across from Microsoft or Apple the Elementary operating system has a lot to offer. I like the applications that have been included and I could really see me using Elementary OS on a Netbook. For people who simply use their computer for Facebook, web browsing, watching the odd video and listening to music, Elementary is the perfect operating system. More at Everyday Linux User I haven’t used Elementary OS, but the review seems relatively positive. It might be something worth considering if you’re looking for a new spin of Ubuntu, or if you just want to check it out in a virtual machine as part of your regular distrohopping. Was Steve Ballmer Fired By Bill Gates? I wrote a quick column on jimlynch.com yesterday about Steve Ballmer possibly being fired by Bill Gates. There seem to be some behind the scenes shenanigans going on at Microsoft related to Ballmer’s departure. You’ll have to make up your own mind about it, but it certainly seems that Ballmer had no intent to leave Microsoft, but then suddenly he did. And so it goes inside the corporate bubble. One day you’re the head honcho, the next day you’ve been booted by the board of directors. In my last column, I covered why Steve Ballmer needed to be fired from the CEO job at Microsoft. Well, lo and behold it happened! Not because of anything I wrote of course, but because Microsoft’s board of directors finally put their bongs down and woke up to what a disaster Ballmer has been for the company as CEO. There’s a very interesting bit of dish over at All Things D about Steve Ballmer leaving Microsoft. According to the article, there may be more than meets the eye to his departure. Apparently, Bill Gates himself declined to continue supporting Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft. More at Jim Lynch What’s your take on it? Did Gates fire Ballmer? Tell me in the comments below. Open Source