Linux leaders at open-source summit (ADT Magazine)

Indeed. Linux first proved itself a "real phenomenon" in the public-eye sense at least as early as the summer of 1998, when all the big commercial databases started piling onboard (with the obvious exception of MS, that is). Prior to that...well, I suppose it's debatable. But there's no question about that point onward.

Greg

Well, your point is well taken, but, (at the risk of sounding like I am defending the indefensible), I'd have to point out that Linux has gotten a great deal of publicity over the whole [stupid, doomed] Caldera Lawsuit thing. I don't believe there is anyone in the IT world today who hasn't heard of Linux, and understands that it is the chief rival to Windows, and further that it has already eclipsed Windows in many important, and growing, markets. Even the truly Clueless Microsoft Certified types have now seen stories about Linux go by, and if they weren't brain dead, they realized that Linux is the Next, (okay, current), Big Thing(tm).

I think in hindsight Billy will see this fiaSCO as having accelerated the colapse of his monopoly, rather than delaying it. I *love* that part.

The Flatlander

In general, I think the press reporting breathlessly about something that they have not heretofore given a great deal of coverage to, as if it were an entirely new phenomenon, may be forgiven as a simple-minded marketing ploy.