“1999 was the year Linux catapulted from obscure hacker
obsession to mainstream phenomenon, up there with e-commerce,
dot-com anything and Pokémon. Witness VA Linux Systems?
record-breaking IPO stock performance and Linux?s star billing at
the Las Vegas Comdex convention….”
“If Linux emerges this year as a threat to Windows, how will
Microsoft counterpunch? “In the last few days, I’ve become
convinced that, despite its denials, Microsoft does in fact have a
skunk works project porting Office to Linux,” says Raymond. “Bet on
that to be unveiled with great fanfare when the desktop-PC OEMs
start to defect. Of course, that move would totally tank
Microsoft’s OS strategy and product line, but I believe Bill
Gates would chew off his own leg to get out of the trap he can
undoubtedly see closing on his company….“
“Market research firm Dataquest forecasts the server appliance
market will skyrocket from less than $100 million in 1998 to $16
billion by 2004, with Linux servers carving out 24 percent of the
pie by 2003. Forrester Research projects a $6 billion ASP market by
2001.”