"When Linux first emerged as a "ready for prime time" OS in the
mid-1990s, Windows NT 4 and Windows 95 were our heroes. They saved
us from Novell's NetWare, SCO Unix and Microsoft's own Windows 3.x
— but at a very high price: Choice. We converted to Windows
from every known platform and OS only to find ourselves caught in
Microsoft's inescapable maelstrom of marketing hype, endless
service packs and upgrade madness. We were too scared not to
embrace the new hero as our own, so we accepted it and relinquished
our ability to choose any other platform, for better or worse.
"Once introduced to the stability (kernel 1.2.13) and charisma
of Linux, it was irresistible. We didn't stand and wait but helped
Linux take small bites (bytes?) out of the prevailing hero's
mystique. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were the first to
harness the power and agility of Linux as a free alternative to
traditional Unix systems. Sun's Solaris OS began to lose its luster
as the ISP platform of choice. This was perhaps the first major
commercial conversion from an established heroic icon to the way of
the shiny new hero for whom we've been waiting."
