osOpinion: Now they're all singing the Penguin Mating Call...

[ Thanks to Kelly McNeill for this link. ]

"While spending time between classes perusing through the latest news issuing forth from COMDEX, I was perplexed at seeing nearly every major paper, website, and tech news organization in existence extol the phenomenon of Linux Ascendant."

"I mean, even the stoic and staid Forbes Magazine was happily gushing about how Linux is an actual business tool....You know you've done well when you can get a pack of sour old investment brokers to smile. Heck, I've even checked informally, and discovered that the Right and Honorable Mr. Torvalds got more press at COMDEX than Bill Gates did. Talk about stealing someone's thunder...especially right before a major Windows OS release...."

"However...wasn't this the same conglomeration of press and opinion that had relegated Linux to the ream of hobbyists and hackers, not even a month ago? I mean, many of these same folks were accused by the more fervent among us of "buying the Microsoft FUD" among other things. Not so much as a week ago, the mainstream press was agreeing with, and happily reproducing, Judge Thomas' assertion that Linux was a fringe OS, and would probably be nothing more. The Mindcraft and PCWeek fiascoes only piled insult to injury, and the Gartner Group's wee study only made it look more dismal. Let's face it - we've seen so much tepid (and sometimes negative) press for so long, that this sudden romance by the mainstream press seems as if The Fairy Godmother just arrived and gave our little penguin a new tux for the ball."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Forbes: Linux now means business(Nov 16, 1999)
• Forbes: Corel to benefit from Linux mania(Oct 28, 1999)