[ Thanks to Steven J.
Vaughan-Nichols for this link. ]
Since its inception five years ago, the show has gone from a
gathering of aficionados to a place to talk business about a mature
technology.
It’s been five years since I set foot on the floor of the first
LinuxWorld in San Jose, Calif. What a long, strange trip it’s
been.
Back then, Caldera, Corel, Compaq, IBM, LinuxCare, Red Hat,
Sendmail and VA Research dominated the rather small showroom floor.
As for Debian, the Linux behind popular business distributions such
as Xandros and Progeny? The Slashdot crew? They were wildly popular
back in the hinterlands of the floor. My, what a few years will
do.
Caldera, to make a really, really long story short, became SCO,
the archenemy of all things Penguinish. Of 1999’s major Linux
distributors, only Red Hat has remained independent. Most of the
other companies at that first show have disappeared, changed their
business or been bought out by other, bigger firms. Complete
Story.