Does Linux innovate?

At a recent local LUG meet, Danbuntu gave a sparkling demonstration of CakePHP, a web application framework based on PHP. Amongst the myriad of glittering, web-related topics discussed, he flashed of a copy of Building Android Apps with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. More a pamphlet than a book, it is still of particular interest to me because the only development platform for Android is Java, which I know very little about. Unless you can use standard web building tools, about which I know a little.

There are also similarities with Linux distros review by JamieW that also create a whole user experience using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.whatever, such as Jolicloud (and the new Google Chrome OS?). Interestinger and interestinger.

Danbuntu also intimated that these apps can take advantage of Android Honeycomb, the geisiest of all zeitgeist technologies, the 3D glossy whizz whizz OS of the future for tablets, mobys and other new-fangled devices.

Which led me athinking about Linux and innovation: has Linux ever truly innovated? Apart from the obvious Free Software development model, has Linux ever been ahead of McWindows on features? I’m asking because I don’t know. And because maybe Mr Shuttleworth is actually dragging Linux kicking and screaming into the 21st century: the much-vaunted Unity interface on Wayland is designed for new devices. The GNOME desktop will be for legacy devices, such as laptops and desktops.

So is this the beginning of True Innovation, which will give normal people a compelling reason to use Linux?