“…to appreciate what Linux is, all this difficulty needs to be
understood in terms of Linux’s recent growth. In the last two
years, I have seen Linux make tremendous jumps in usability:”
“In December 1998, I tried to installed a Red Hat version but
could not even get it up to the text login prompt. … In October
2000 I installed Suse Linux 7.0 with one DVD disk, it automatically
recognized my mouse, sound card, graphics card, and after two weeks
of the configuring described above, I have a usable system which
for the first time compares to a Windows system. Quite an awesome
two-year catch-up record!”
“As soon as Linux hits a critical point of acceptance and
standardization, its cost-effectiveness and scalability should make
it irresistible to wide sections of the corporate community (e.g.
companies who want to buy one $60 CD and install it on 100 or 1000
or 10,000 of their computers at no extra cost). The cost of hiring
a team of Linux experts will be small in comparison to the license
fees that companies would otherwise pay to Microsoft. Costs of
upgrading and scalability will be negligible in comparison.”
“As a 21st century Web developer, you need to become
familiar with Linux at some level. Linux is very different than
Windows and will burn away many of your learning hours before you
are productive with it. Yet Linux’s growth shows that it is on the
way to becoming both the front and back office operating system of
choice for many businesses, organizations, schools and individuals
in the 21st century. If you are still a Windows-only Web developer,
learn to like Linux now. You may actually like what you’re
missing!”