ZDNet: Has the Linux bubble burst?

[ Thanks to ll for this link. ]

"Has Linux finally crossed the threshhold from adolescence to adulthood? If you use as one measuring stick the recent spate of not-so-good news for some of Linux's leading lights, you might come to that conclusion. Layoffs by one of the four largest Linux distributors, TurboLinux; tough times at Linux backer Corel; IPO meltdown at Linux services provider LinuxCare. Who's next?"

"Does this mean that Linux's heyday is over? Hardly. After all, IBM, Sun, Oracle and Microsoft all continue to be staunch believers in Linux's potential/threat. Microsoft reiterated on Wednesday of this week, as part of its latest antitrust-related filing that its economic experts still consider Linux "a serious competitor as an operating system for a variety of non-PC devices that compete directly with personal computers running Windows."

"Regardless of the rhetoric, I believe there is enough promise in the basic concept that software is best developed via a cooperative, rather than a competitive model, to continue to propel Linux and other open software forward. As one Linux enthusiast pointed out recently, as operating systems get increasingly bigger and more complex, where will companies find enough programmers to hire to develop and test them? The concept of cooperative programming would seem to be a novel way to circumvent this limitation."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• CNET News.com: TurboLinux layoffs another sign of cooling market(Jun 01, 2000)
• Slashdot: TurboLinux Layoffs(May 31, 2000)
• CNET News.com/Reuters: Corel workers jump ship ahead of layoffs, cost-cutting(May 27, 2000)
• SRO: Can Linuxcare Stay Afloat?(May 22, 2000)
• PC World: Who Buys Corel?(May 19, 2000)
• Upside: Linuxcare: The hits keep on coming(May 07, 2000)
• TechWeb/Reuters: Linuxcare Seeks Withdrawal Of IPO(May 02, 2000)