"Remember the Linux frenzy of late 1999 and early 2000?
A lot of investors would probably rather forget.
The stocks of companies that specialize in Linux have been among
the hardest hit by the technology sector's precipitous decline. But
at the same time, enthusiasm for and adoption of the Linux
operating system software has continued to grow.
Linux is an "open-source" operating system. That means the
underlying code that makes it work is available for anyone to view
and modify, as long as they share their modifications with the rest
of the Linux community. It's widely available for free on the
Internet, but several companies have emerged that offer for sale
their own versions of the software, as well as attendant support
and services."
