Windows better than Linux - says Linus

Linux will take years to attain the commercial and technical success of Windows and Macintosh operating systems (OS).

Linux creator Linus Torvalds risked the wrath of Linux devotees at this week's LinuxWorld conference in California with the comment and added that despite some commercial success in the past year, it would be 10 to 15 years before home users began to adopt the open source system.

Torvalds admitted that he had been wrong this spring when he insisted a Microsoft survey - that found Windows NT outperformed Linux in some computing tasks - had been rigged.

He said he had been "arrogant" and "in denial" over the results, but hoped that it motivated Linux developers to remedy the faults that had caused the OS to lose to Windows.

Gary Cooper, Linux analyst with the Butler Group applauded Torvalds' honesty.

"He's just saying what people have been thinking. He's recognising the problems. Once you do that, you're on the road to fixing those problems."

But, Cooper added that with technology developments gathering pace, it was foolish for Torvalds to try to predict trends so far in the future.

"He's an optimist. But I wouldn't like to predict beyond five years. Things move so quickly that there may be no Linux in 15 years time," Cooper said.

Torvalds also announced at the conference that a new version of Linux - the first in a year and half - would be available within a few months.