"Over the past year, the information technology elite
have started to dismiss Linux as a flash in the pan that tried and
failed to dominate in a world owned by Windows. Woebegone Linux and
open-source companies are scattered across the landscape like so
much shrapnel. The stock prices of IPO high fliers VA Linux and Red
Hat currently trade near half of their pre-IPO offering prices.
Meanwhile, Windows XP gets the press and the plaudits.
But what's happening behind the scenes? In the early days of the
open-source movement, Linux-based operating systems made their way
into the business world through the back door, usually shepherded
by an engineer who just wanted to get his or her job done in the
most efficient way possible. That motivation hasn't disappeared,
even if some of the companies that tried to capitalize on it are
already distant memories. In fact, today, entire industries are
making Linux-based operating systems central to their business.
Take, for example, the glamorous, and absolutely essential to
modern entertainment, visual-effects industry."
