"It was a sight you almost never see in a U.S. computer
store, but an increasingly common one in China. There, on sale in a
major department store in the center of Beijing, was a new personal
computer running the GNU/Linux operating system.
Was this a harbinger of the future? Was it a sign that the
flurry of Linux hype here a year or two ago was finally turning
into something like a trend? Well, maybe.
I'd love to tell you that Linux, as the open-source operating
system is more commonly known, is sweeping through the world's most
populous nation and creating a major counter-force to Microsoft's
Windows monopoly on desktop computers. I'd love to tell you that,
but I'd be exaggerating."