How Will Linux Handle Quantum Computing? (2017) [pdf]
I really suspect that if QC ever gets to the point where it&#x27;s speaking to an OS of some type, then it will become something like what a GPU is to a CPU - where some specialized computing is offloaded to it. I imagine this because a) classical computing will most definitely be required if even just for communicating with I&#x2F;O, b) QC systems are vulnerable to heat and can&#x27;t be too near stuff that could get hot, c) not every type of computation benefits from QC.<p>I imagine we will even call it the QCU, quantum computing unit. It&#x27;ll probably be a highly specialized piece of hardware for quite some time too, like what a dedicated random number generator piece of hardware would be to a normal computer. It would really need to have some killer application in order to end up in hardware mere mortals have access to.<p>What I really think QC will end up with is some specialized language, such as what FPGAs have, that tell it how to initialize the system and measure it. I imagine Linux would likely be one of the first OSes to actually support it, given that Linux is heavily used in servers and cloud computing will likely be the first places (after research labs) to actually be able to afford to own and run the QCU hardware.<p>So I believe Linux is here to stay, even if it really doesn&#x27;t change so much.