"For the past few years, you could confidently predict
that every computer industry pundit in the world would write an
article about the rise of Linux on the desktop. "1999 will be THE
year of Linux on the desktop," they cried. "OK, seriously, 2000 is
it! Well, maybe 2001." Maybe not. In 2001, the dot-com market
officially dried up, the economy nosedived into a cyclical
recession, and the market for Linux on the desktop remained
nonexistent.
On a more positive note, Linux desktop advancements are quite
impressive, and if you haven't tried this open-source solution
recently, I recommend products such as Ximian Desktop and
Evolution, two highlights of the Linux desktop movement. But as
2001 came to a close, any hope that Linux would supplant Windows
desktop versions ebbed right along with it. Linux isn't a disaster,
of course; the OS commands a healthy percentage of the small-server
market. But the one-time Linux steamroller has stalled at the Gates
of Windows, and the fact that the desktop is one market Linux will
never conquer has become increasingly obvious. Besides, if you want
a desktop UNIX, Mac OS X is so much more elegant.
Back in January 2001, however, Mac OS X hadn't shipped, and many
Linux companies were planning heady desktop improvements. On
January 11, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even declared that Linux
was the number-one threat to Windows. He described the OS as a
"phenomenon" that the company must address."
