LinuxWorld: Newbies find a little help at LinuxWorld Conference and Expo

“For those who weren’t already convinced that Linux has become
the Next Big Thing, the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in New York
erased all doubt. … he third LinuxWorld show was not only larger
and more heavily attended than the previous two (both of which were
held in San Jose last year), but it also attracted more dollars
from Wall Street and more support from industry giants like IBM,
Compaq, and Dell.

The attendance increased, too. In fact, so many people came that
IDG World Expo was not able to estimate the size of the crowds —
take from that what you will. Linus Torvalds delivered his keynote
address before a huge crowd populated with more press than his
address at Comdex drew — this at a Linux-only show.”

“The market’s fastest-growing OS promises a stampede of new
Linux users across the dot-com plains. So you’d think that vendors
of Linux and open source software would be ready to greet the
massive influx with products and services geared to the eager but
inexperienced user. Nope. More than 150 vendors were at the
expo, ranging from the major distros to upstart companies aimed at
vertical markets, but only a handful of exhibitors seemed targeted
specifically to the new Linux user.”

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