Although officially The decade ends on December 31, 2020, I think we can get ahead of ourselves. Undoubtedly, the second decade of the XNUMXst century has been lthe best ever for free and open source software.
Of course, not everything is perfect. Many companies incorporated open source private services but not very respectful of privacy. Political correctness stuck the tail replacing the meritocracy and many governments still prefer closed technologies. But, despite all the balance is positive.
Why do I say a good decade is ending?
In this decade the long awaited year of Linux on the desktop did not arrive. Also, attempts to gain a foothold in the mobile device market failed. However, that was successfully offset in other fields.
Cloud
Although the concept of Cloud Computing came from the beginning of the century, it was in this decade when consolidation occurred.
Spending on cloud platforms is expected to reach 60% of all IT infrastructure, and between 60% and 70% of all software services and technology spending by 2020. A Forbes survey estimates that 83% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud by 2020.
Most cloud solutions use one or more open source technologies since they allow to easily solve compatibility problems between existing and new applications and avoid being tied to a provider of IT solutions.
Go
It is perhaps the most important invention of Linus Torvalds (unlike the linux kernel it can be used for any operating system) Git and all derived services such as GitHub or GitLab accelerated software development facilitating collaboration between programmers and even users.
containers
If something marked the decade that we are living, it is the every time greater independence from the hardware we have at home. If the cloud allows us to use computing services remotely, the containers allows us to run programs locally (also remotely of course) not caring about the environment.
Open source projects such as Docker, Kubernetes, and LXD are the most widely used for container management.
Web standards
In 2009 Microsoft Internet Explorer dominated the browser market and Adobe with Flash the reproduction of multimedia content online.
However, then mobile hardware couldn't handle Flash content, and Microsoft's workaround, Silverlight never prospered.
For some years now, the W3C had been working on an update to the HTML language. HTML5 has functions to play audio and video within the web pages, and to use scalable vector graphics. Combined with Javascript and CSS3 achieves animation and interactivity capabilities.
Also, there was a de facto standardization when moving most browsers to use Chromium browser source code as base. Let's remember that Chromium is the open source base that Google Chrome uses.
Programming Languages
To say that there are more programming languages than there are programmers is probably an exaggeration. Maybe not that great considering Donald Trump has his own. The truth is that there are many.
Of the existing languages the most outstanding is that Java has become more and more open, being almost completely open source. So did Microsoft with your .Net platform
Javascript (which we talked about above) is the undisputed king for animations and interactivity. To such an extent that Adobe allows it to be used in the animation program that succeeded Adobe Flash and After Effects.
Businesses and governments are showing increasing interest in big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The programming languages that dominate the creation of related applications are Python and R. Of course, both open source.
Also the preferred tools for these projects are. This is the case of Tensor Flow or Scikit-learn for artificial intelligence or Apache Hadoop for handling big data.
A good decade ends. It could have been better
Since Steve Ballmer defined Linux as "a cancer", a lot of water has passed under the bridge. In fact, it was Ballmer himself who started Microsoft's process of approaching open source.
Still There is much to do Although open source is used more and more in the corporate environment, the same is not yet happening in the domestic environment. In fact, in this sector, lto the imposition of proprietary alternatives and enemies of privacy seems to be getting worse.
THANK YOU for this compilation.
I will add you from my harvest ...
I don't know why the term cancer is used disparagingly in this context.
From the point of view of the defenders of free and open source software, it predicts an almost certain death of the proprietary software with a great speed of propagation and expansion of free.
The domain of PLICA (Free and Open Source Program - FOSS in English) is so great that the total domain in mobility is ignored in this article
1.- Android is based on AOSP and in many models free versions such as those based on Lineage can be installed.
2.- Chrome OS with Linux kernel and Android and GNU compatibility is the best commercial OS in hybrids
3.- IOS depends on the FreeBSD kernel, although it is not possible to make free alternative implementations as the IOS phones are closed.
That Huawei (with large market share and growing) is collaborating with Lignux Deepin (debian), and not only for desktop systems.
That Chrome OS with Linux kernel grew a lot.
That the input / output systems (BIOS / EFI) used to be 100% proprietary thanks to COREBOOT and the devices with Chrome OS are no longer 100% and you can choose between many models.
That in addition to being virtualized, both MS WOS and Chrome OS allow the use of a containerized GNU / Linux subsystem, which they do to avoid dual boot, without achieving it at all (partial victory little applauded and recognized).
That free hardware like RISC-V MIPs processor instructions and the entire POWER ecosystem - we lack a good free GPU - is beginning to flourish.
What GNU / Linux could with the latest proprietary UNIX (IBM's AIX)
although it was via the purchase of Red Hat by IBM
And last but not least that we have at least two projects of physical phones Pinephone and Librem, with GNU as the main OS, and compatible with other Linux kernel OSs. That most likely will increase the compatibility of other terminals with the GNU distributions for phones.
I hope a second part with these health symptoms, and others, secondary, but no less important, that you write it better.
I appreciate your contributions and they are magnificently well expressed. I don't think I can do better. But I promise to try.
Regarding the qualifier "cancer." A long time ago a book was published called "Talent is Overrated." The first person they talk about is Steve Ballmer.