"When Red Hat launched its fresh attack on the desktop operating system in May, with Red Hat Desktop, it preceded the launch with a series of statements from the great and the good of the IT industry. Examples included: '640K ought to be enough for anybody,' Bill Gates, 1981; and 'I think there is a world market for about five computers,' attributed to Thomas Watson, then IBM chairman, 1943.
"The inference was clear: they all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round, and Red Hat would be having the last laugh when it proved the doubters wrong and established Linux as a viable alternative to Windows as a desktop operating system..."
