[ Thanks to coomsie for this link.
]
“I sometimes feel like David Attenborough witnessing a
particularly rapid form of evolution. Over the past two or three
years Linux and the open-source movement have broken through into
the exponential portion of the growth curve and soared steadily
skyward. The number and variety of projects underway is
mind-numbing, the volume of software available, staggering; and
virtually all of it is free for the price of a download.“Anyone doubting the size of this revolution should visit this
website, where you’ll find a table of equivalents, replacements and
analogs of Windows software in Linux. Its authors admit it’s by no
means complete but the file size is an impressive 110KB. Or take a
look at development interchange site freshmeat.net; it lists more
than 27,000 active projects.“Some of the results are, to be sure, rough-and-ready workman’s
tools. Others are mature and beautifully crafted. As in nature,
many won’t survive beyond their first release while the dominance
of others will wax and wane. Some will find specialised niches and
small but dedicated bands of followers. Some will, or have already,
made friends with powerful commercial interests to work in
symbiotic relationships. But one thing is certain; their general
contingency, like evolution itself, is now unstoppable…”