Australian Personal Computer: The Lure of Linux

[ Thanks to Con Zymaris for this link. ]

"The buzz around Linux is reminiscent of the stirrings surrounding the Internet before the dot com crash. In fact, many of the concepts that fascinated people about the Net also applied to the operating system: both began as academic projects, neither were owned by a specific organisation, and they were largely free for anyone to access and contribute to.

"These factors meant that activity snowballed, building up from simple projects into a global phenomenon with great promise. And in both cases, it was also predicted that they'd quietly go away in favour of proprietary alternatives once the hype died down.

"There's no arguing that some of the heat has gone out of the Linux market. Companies that had jumped onto the bandwagon, like Caldera and Corel, stepped away from the platform. Others, such as Linux desktop company Eazel, disappeared entirely.

"But Linux, like the Internet, isn't about to go away any time soon. And the serious players in the Linux industry are doing quite well..."

Complete Story

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