So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Reporting is wrong.

3/4ths of the earth's population uses Linux.

The 1/4 that you read; doesn't tell you the truth.

Because Bill has to sell those Stock Options before the MSFT market CRASHES.

--
W '04 : Open

Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....


It is an uncontrolled(able) mess of volunteer developers (geeks) who write
things the way they like them (looking geeky). Due to its open source
nature and the slight variations it is difficult to ensure that everything
will work smoothly for everyone. If you do not posses detailed technical
skills, and why should you, you will often run into problems you will be
unable to resolve. I personally do not think that linux deserves half the
stars and sprkles its been getting lately, it is a feeble attempt to
imitate a truly great OS. Remember Linux is not UNIX. Today Unix and Linux
run the world behind the scenes, sure nearly all the desktop PCs are
Windows based, but they wouldnt be far if it isnt for the infrastructure
and development in technology provided by Unix bades Computers. If you are
looking for a free alternative to Linux I would suggest and of the BSD
branch of UNIX (not Linux, there is a difference). They have a more
conservative approach on development, support the same graphical
environments as Linux are FULLY POSIX compliant and have support for easily
executing linux binaries, and most Linux software developers offer native
BSD versions.

I personally am surprised at how little awareness there is for BSD, my
personal choice is FreeBSD. I have encountered very few people who have
been dissapointed by it, perhaps its lesser popularity does not have every
second moron trying it for a day and then bash how crappy it is in a
Windows newsgroup (as is the case wiht Linux).

Perhaps the one indicator that a Unix environment is a viable desktop
solution is Apple's MacOS X, which is in reality FreeBSD wiht apple's
proprietary interface (and some other technologies). My point is that most
OS X users do not need to use the console at all (If they are even aware it
exits), The interface is beautifully user-task centered, and the features
indicate the technological marvels i have come to expect from Apple.
However in contrast wiht their engineering, Apple's marketing department
are imbaculs.... I am yet to determine why on earth they never developed an
x86 verison of their OS, they could have killed DOS, they could have killed
Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Me, not sure about 2000 (at that point apple was a
little behind), and could easily destroy Windows XP. Linux runs on Macs as
well.... see if you Find anyone who is idiot enough to replace their MacOS
wiht anything else... The problem is that it is unavailable to the majority
of the market since Apple wants to sell their PCs (quite costly too) not
the OS.

India, which is approx 20% of the world's population is going 100% Linux.

"Johann Frick" wrote in message
m...
So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't last long.

Johann Frick wrote:

snip

Something is wrong here.....

You are right, flatfish, something is wrong here

Lets see: Flatfish poting as someone else
Posting through google
IP a link in Egypt, where you find: Microsoft
Ip is an open proxy

Yes, something is wrong here
--
Warning: You have moved the mouse.
Windows will reboot now to make the change permanent

You might want to clarify your post. It sounds like you're trying to imply
that every single person in India has a computer and that computer is
running Linux or will be shortly.

--
Rob Windsor [MVP-VB]
G6 Consulting
Toronto, Canada



"Martik" wrote in message
news:cNioc.1318$0e6.917@clgrps13...
India, which is approx 20% of the world's population is going 100% Linux.

Johann Frick wrote:
So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

A lot of people is using Linux now a days.
Linux has been traditionally employed as a server system (web or file
server, fiwewall and proxy duties etc).

Ref. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/we...er_survey.html
Most of them run Apache on Linux or BSD unix.

Now Linux is conquering to the desktop market !

*Schools* in Norway are migrating from Windows to Linux..
Microsoft Windows was too costly and difficult to manage.
Windows platforms had constantly severe crashes and many security and
virus/worm incidents !
So moving to Linux was the only viable choice.

Ref. http://www.skolelinux.no/index.php.en


Linux is free?
Yes it is, if you WANT.
You can even participate in development if you CAN ?

Migrate to Linux you too.
Download it from http://www.linuxiso.org
http://www.futuredesktop.org/how2burn.html#mirrors
-

OpenOfffice is free?
Yes ?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?
Between 5 - 7 % of desktops
and over 50 % of web servers run Linux.


// moma
http://www.futuredesktop.org :: newbie links at the top.

On 11 May 2004 21:08:32 -0700 in alt.os.linux,
Johann Frick spake unto us, saying:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Corporations tend to standardize on commercial products, and home users
are driven by preloads and the ability to buy software in stores.

Linux is not as strong as Windows in that area.

Linux is free?

It can be (if you're talking about price).

OpenOfffice is free?

Again, it can be.

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

1 percent of 500 million is 5 million users. Not bad for something
which doesn't have a cohesive marketing department.

Something is wrong here.....

I'd say so. You've been flippantly dismissing a 5-million-strong
customer base. :-)

--
-Rich Steiner --- http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner --- Eden Prairie, MN
OS/2 + eCS + Linux + Win95 + DOS + PC/GEOS + Executor = PC Hobbyist Heaven!
Applications analyst/designer/developer (14 yrs) seeking employment.
See web site above for resume/CV and background.

Kadaitcha Man wrote:

Martik wrote:
India, which is approx 20% of the world's population is going 100%
Linux.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


and this is funny because....?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Keyser Soze wrote:

"Kadaitcha Man" wrote in message
news:2cyVF4fXDdaiBCB5BEF91435EB8E4HNNH1GsXQLh@kada itcha.cx
Richard Steiner wrote:
On 11 May 2004 21:08:32 -0700 in alt.os.linux,
Johann Frick spake unto us, saying:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Corporations tend to standardize on commercial products, and home
users are driven by preloads and the ability to buy software in
stores.

Linux is not as strong as Windows in that area.

Linux is free?

It can be (if you're talking about price).

OpenOfffice is free?

Again, it can be.

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

1 percent of 500 million is 5 million users. Not bad for something
which doesn't have a cohesive marketing department.

Something is wrong here.....

I'd say so. You've been flippantly dismissing a 5-million-strong
customer base. :-)

And just what is wrong wth dissing 5 million ****wits?

You can cut that down by a third, most lusers have three
test machines.


notice he said users, not machines.
- --
Fred Emmott
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"Quizzical" wrote in message
m...
"Johann Frick" wrote in message
m...
So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't last long.



Down to 0% pretty soon, yes.

Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux Audio is maturing and is almost plug-and-play, but it's not quite
there yet.

ALSA and Jack have laid the foundation for some truly impressive audio
applications (e.g., Ardour, Lilypond and others). The 2.6 kernel
includes ALSA support so almost all common Linux distributions now (or
will soon) offer plug-and-play audio.

We developed an ALSA driver for our PDAudio-CF and will soon publish an
account our experiences.

--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com
Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912

Len Moskowitz wrote:
Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux Audio is maturing and is almost plug-and-play, but it's not
quite there yet.

That's true for all things linux.

Kadaitcha Man wrote:
Richard Steiner wrote:

I'd say so. You've been flippantly dismissing a 5-million-strong
customer base. :-)

And just what is wrong wth dissing 5 million ****wits?

It's off topic for rec.audio.pro for one thing.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Mark W" s@o wrote in message
...

"Quizzical" wrote in message

m...
"Johann Frick" wrote
in message

m...
So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it
is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less
than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't
last long.



Down to 0% pretty soon, yes.



Oh I don't know I have three copies of linux that
I've bought or downloaded
sitting in a draw. So I'm probably counted three
times as a linux user, maybe
more.

Jim M

G wrote:
Diogenes wrote:

You're a typical linux****.

Your a typical misinformed win****...

There's no such thing... do you mean linux****?


Linux makes you stupid.

Linux sets you free!

I guess you mean free from work since you can't be productive and use linux.


All linux users (lusers) are gay.

So what if they are? whats your problem?

Lusers are also referred to as linuxfags... for obvious (see above) reasons.


Just stick to windows pal, its where you belong!

Hit a nerve, huh. Yes, it's hard for you to admit those things, but they are
all true and have been proved over and over. Google for them.

You're a typical linux****.
Linux makes you stupid.
All linux users (lusers) are gay.

HTH & HAND
--
Diogenes

JBM wrote:

Oh I don't know I have three copies of linux that
I've bought or downloaded
sitting in a draw. So I'm probably counted three
times as a linux user, maybe more.

They don't estimate usage numbers from downloads, dumbo.


--
Take your giant, abusive corporation and shove it!

Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

There isn't much being spent on marketing it. Joe User thinks he has to buy
MS Office, because he probably doesn't even know openoffice exists.

Water is all but free at workplaces, or in public places (drinking
fountains, etc.) but yuppies are willing to spend $1/bottle of Evian
(Naive spelled backwards). Packet radio and shortwave is free, but
people are willing to spend $40/month for a cellphone.

You bet something is wrong.

There's probably a large number of people willing to buy bottled
sunlight if it was marketed correctly and someone had a monopoly on it.

Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Stephen J. Rush wrote:
On Wed, 12 May 2004 12:55:01 +0100, Mark W wrote:



Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't last long.



Down to 0% pretty soon, yes.

What, is Bill gonna buy the Supreme Court and have Linux declared
contraband?

Good idea. And, I like the idea of a death penalty for linux users (lusers).

--
Diogenes

"Quizzical" wrote in message
. com...
JBM wrote:

Oh I don't know I have three copies of linux
that
I've bought or downloaded
sitting in a draw. So I'm probably counted
three
times as a linux user, maybe more.

They don't estimate usage numbers from
downloads, dumbo.


--
Take your giant, abusive corporation and shove
it!



I know, estimating too hard for the typical luser,
so they just make up a number.

Jim M

Keyser Soze wrote:
"Diogenes" wrote in message
s.com
Stephen J. Rush wrote:
On Wed, 12 May 2004 12:55:01 +0100, Mark W wrote:



Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't last long.



Down to 0% pretty soon, yes.

What, is Bill gonna buy the Supreme Court and have Linux declared
contraband?

Good idea. And, I like the idea of a death penalty for linux users
(lusers).

Ey, ey Capt'n!

Well, they /ARE/ terrorists!

--
Diogenes

JBM wrote:

I know, estimating too hard for the typical luser,
so they just make up a number.

First you say Linux users are all technogeeks and geniuses. Now you say they
are unable to estimate things.

When will you (and people like you) make up your minds, Dim Jim?


--
Take your giant, abusive corporation and shove it!

Keyser Soze wrote:
"Glen" wrote in message
Babblings of a paedophile moron snipped

Oh look, nothing left.


Oh look, its back again!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------




You failed math, didn't you. Probably most everything else too.

You're a typical linux****.


Your a typical misinformed win****...

Linux makes you stupid.


Linux sets you free!

All linux users (lusers) are gay.


So what if they are? whats your problem?

Just stick to windows pal, its where you belong!

--
People in killfile:
New Scotland Yard, Relic, Keyser Soze, Lord Gazwad of Grantham,
ur_droll, Daeron, Kadaitcha Man, Diogenes, Kushma Pergrouhi.
..

G wrote:
Diogenes wrote:

G wrote:

Diogenes wrote:

You're a typical linux****.

Your a typical misinformed win****...


There's no such thing... do you mean linux****?


there's no such thing... do you mean win****?


No second prizes, or chances.

--
Diogenes

Diogenes wrote:

G wrote:

Diogenes wrote:

You're a typical linux****.

Your a typical misinformed win****...


There's no such thing... do you mean linux****?


there's no such thing... do you mean win****?


Linux makes you stupid.

Linux sets you free!


I guess you mean free from work since you can't be productive and use linux.


Free from lock-ins, force feed media plyers, force feed Browser!


All linux users (lusers) are gay.

So what if they are? whats your problem?


Lusers are also referred to as linuxfags... for obvious (see above) reasons.


by whom?


Just stick to windows pal, its where you belong!


Hit a nerve, huh. Yes, it's hard for you to admit those things, but they are
all true and have been proved over and over. Google for them.


lol, like i give a **** what you think, if you don't like linux dont use
it, stay with windows, where you belong!

You're a typical linux****.

Your a typical misinformed win****...

Linux makes you stupid.

Linux Sets you free

All linux users (lusers) are gay.

Just stick to windows pal, its where you belong!

HTH & HAND

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Keyser Soze shared these words of wisdom:

"Fred Emmott" wrote in message

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Keyser Soze wrote:

"Kadaitcha Man" wrote in message
news:2cyVF4fXDdaiBCB5BEF91435EB8E4HNNH1GsXQLh@kada itcha.cx
Richard Steiner wrote:
On 11 May 2004 21:08:32 -0700 in alt.os.linux,
Johann Frick spake unto us, saying:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Corporations tend to standardize on commercial products, and home
users are driven by preloads and the ability to buy software in
stores.

Linux is not as strong as Windows in that area.

Linux is free?

It can be (if you're talking about price).

OpenOfffice is free?

Again, it can be.

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

1 percent of 500 million is 5 million users. Not bad for something
which doesn't have a cohesive marketing department.

Something is wrong here.....

I'd say so. You've been flippantly dismissing a 5-million-strong
customer base. :-)

And just what is wrong wth dissing 5 million ****wits?

You can cut that down by a third, most lusers have three
test machines.

notice he said users, not machines.

Maybe, but that's not what he meant. It is well known that the
figures portraying, for example "X-strong customer base" is in
direct relation to the number of machines with lunix, but where
you are correct is that the figure of lusers is then further
reduced, significantly minimising the number of ****wits.

You're a lunix luser from rec.audio.pro aren't you?


No, but i am a linux user, and a musician (in case you think i was merely
correcting your spelling/grammar, i am not subscribed to rec.audio.pro,
have never read any posts to their apart from cross-posts to linux groups
and i have never posted there).

BTW - why lunix? are the i and the u keys swapped on your keyboard or
something?

"lusers" is also not a word - all it is is a command for showing the amount
of people currently connected to an IRC server.

"X-strong customer base" *obviously* is indicating the number of customers -
this is mainly derived from number of box sets sold and download
statistics, as any survey would be biased, depending on the audience.
Therefore, the *real* number of "lusers" (sic) is likely to be much higher
- - disks are copied, and given to friends freely.
- --
Fred Emmott
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Hash: SHA1

Keyser Soze shared these words of wisdom:

"G" wrote in message
snip

You're still struggling to master the simple task of poasting.

Give it another go, dimbulb.


You're still struggling to master the simple task of spelling, and using
words that actually exist.

- --
Fred Emmott
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cXt4bg9BdwTLSJv2erhswBc=
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Hash: SHA1

Diogenes shared these words of wisdom:

[snip]

All linux users (lusers) are gay.

[snip]

Lusers are also referred to as linuxfags... for obvious (see above)
reasons.

[snip]
All linux users (lusers) are gay.

Outside of usenet/IRC, I haven't heard anyone over the age of 11 use
homosexuality as an insult.

- --
Fred Emmott
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Hash: SHA1

Paul Bramscher shared these words of wisdom:

[snip]

There's probably a large number of people willing to buy bottled
sunlight if it was marketed correctly and someone had a monopoly on it.

[snip]

Ever heard of "Natural Light" light bulbs?
- --
Fred Emmott
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Fred Emmott wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Diogenes shared these words of wisdom:

[snip]

All linux users (lusers) are gay.

[snip]

Lusers are also referred to as linuxfags... for obvious (see above)
reasons.

[snip]
All linux users (lusers) are gay.

*Outside of usenet/IRC* , I haven't heard anyone over the age of 11 use
homosexuality as an insult.

So, you don't even know where you are... linux makes you stupid, and gay.

--
Diogenes

Keyser Soze wrote:

"Diogenes" wrote in message
s.com

Stephen J. Rush wrote:

On Wed, 12 May 2004 12:55:01 +0100, Mark W wrote:


Enjoy this situation while it last. It won't last long.



Down to 0% pretty soon, yes.

What, is Bill gonna buy the Supreme Court and have Linux declared
contraband?

Good idea. And, I like the idea of a death penalty for linux users
(lusers).


Ey, ey Capt'n!


And I like to be put to death by none other than Karpet Muncher. Right
up the ol' choclate whizway. It'll feel so good as I good down to meet
that red guy with the pitch fork.

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Hash: SHA1

- -Cryogenic-© shared these words of wisdom:
[snip]

You're still struggling to master the simple task of spelling, and
using words that actually exist.

Such as, you ****flap?


Where? The GPG signature is not meant to be English *duh*. I don't see any
words in the post your post referred to which are spelt incorrectly, or
don't exist (UK english).

- --
Fred Emmott
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-Cryogenic-© wrote:

"Fred Emmott" wrote in message


Check your firewall.

--
Too bad you can't buy a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth
spin real fast and freak everybody out.

Gee, I hope Fred's not smart enough to figure out the headers!
I am so smart! S-M-R-T!!!!!

-Cryogenic-© shared these words of wisdom:



Check your firewall.

[snip]

Are you referring to my firewall, or to the firewall of my ISP?

If you are referring to the firewall of 194.238.50.13 - that is my internal
IP - the IP address that can be used to access my computer from the
internet is on a different subnet.
--
Fred Emmott

Diogenes wrote:
G wrote:

Diogenes wrote:


G wrote:


Diogenes wrote:


You're a typical linux****.

Your a typical misinformed win****...


There's no such thing... do you mean linux****?


there's no such thing... do you mean win****?



No second prizes, or chances.


ahhhh, shame

On Wed, 12 May 2004 14:02:07 +0000, Diogenes wrote:

Len Moskowitz wrote:
Johann Frick wrote:

So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux Audio is maturing and is almost plug-and-play, but it's not
quite there yet.

That's true for all things linux.

No, it's not.

It's true for *some* things Linux. But all things? No more so than saying
it's true for other "mature" OSes such as Mac OSX or WinXP.

--
Jeffrey D. Silverman | jeffrey AT jhu DOT edu
Website | http://www.wse.jhu.edu/newtnotes/

"Quizzical" wrote in message
. com...
JBM wrote:

I know, estimating too hard for the typical
luser,
so they just make up a number.

First you say Linux users are all technogeeks
and geniuses. Now you say they
are unable to estimate things.

When will you (and people like you) make up your
minds, Dim Jim?


--
Take your giant, abusive corporation and shove
it!



When did I say any linux users were technogeeks
and geniuses?

Jim M

(Johann Frick) wrote in message om...
So why is virtually nobody using Linux if it is so damm good?

Linux is free?

OpenOfffice is free?

So why is Linux's market share still less than 1 percent?

Something is wrong here.....

Which survey are you using?
What were the criteria for counting?
How were the "Other" catagories scored?

For example - the Google Zeitgeist survey
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

This is a survey which counted browser identifying their operating
systems as declared by the browser.

Windows versions including Windows 9x, XP, 2000, and NT were of course
properly identified because Microsoft requires this in their
contracts. Even if you use Netscape or Mozilla, you must identify
your box as Windows along with the correct version. The same is true
of Mac, which also uses contracts to make sure they are properly
identified.

Linux browsers however, can be compiled to run under any flavor of
UNIX, or any flavor of Linux.. The default is for the browser to
identify the operating system as UNIX or UNIX/X11. This means you
really need to treat the "Other" catagory as Linux - which puts Linux
at roughly 5% according to the Zeitgeist survey.

But keep in mind that this count is also a bit inflated, since AOL and
MSN who cater almost exclusively to Windows users, use publicly
exposed DHCP addresses, which are assigned round robin as users dial
in. There are roughly 16 million IP addresses, most of which are
hidden behind Network Address Translation (NAT) firewalls, nearly 90%
of the PUBLIC TCP/IP addresses are assigned to AOL and MSN. By simply
cycling through all of the available addresses - a single machine
could be counted 30 times simply because the dial-up user dialed in
every day and got a new DHCP address.


On the flip side Linux users usually use "Linux Friendly" ISPs, which
generally means that they connect to the web via a NAT firewall. This
means that hundreds of Linux users in a particular area code could
appear as a single IP address.

Let's go back to those Windows machine for a minute, shall we?
Windows 9x applications can be run under WINE - especially with DLL
enhancements such as crossover, Lindows, and of course WINE
implementations running licensed versions of Windows 98 DLLs. In
addition, Linux browsers such as Konquerer can "Spoof" - pretend to be
IE on Windows in order to prevent rejection by sites that check the
signature and refuse to talk to you unless you are running Windows and
IE (shouldn't such checks be considered illegal under the DOJ
ruling?). So now we have to reexamin the Windows 98 numbers. Is that
really 22% Windows 98, or is it 5% Linux and 17% Windows 9x?

There is a way to find out how many of which are which. Microsoft,
Yahoo, and Google all have the ability to place and track persistent
cookies, and have very detailed breakdowns on operating system
"Signatures". Often, there are subtle variations in the Windows
signatures that show that a Windows machine is really a Linux machine.

Finally, are you sure there isn't a Linux box in there somewhere?

Keep in mind that it's quite easy these days to have the full
capabilities of Linux yet access the machine remotely via VNC or
X-Terminals. In addition, it's quite easy to use VNC to access a
Windows workstation. Finally, many people have multiple systems,
multiple virtual machines within a single machine (using VMWare,
Bochs, or Connectix, or Microsoft's Virtual machine). And finally,
you can run Linux apps on Windows using cygwin.

When you start to look into those numbers, you suddenly begin to
realize that Linux is a much bigger competitor - especiall for control
of the Application Programmer Interfaces (API) used to create new
applications. Many newer applications are being implemented under
Cygwin with a proprietary GUI or a GUI written in Java, Python, or
TCL. This eliminates royalties and nondisclosure agreements to
Microsoft, enables multiple platform support including support for
Solaris, AIX, SCO Unix, Linux, and numerous flavors of BSD UNIX. This
as opposed to .NET and MSDN APIs which require numerous NDAs, royalty
payments on shipped products, and a market limited exclusively to the
newest version of Windows.

The real problem is that those who have accurate information aren't
talking, and those who are publishing - especially for free, don't
really have accurate information.

Given the various factors above, Linux could have anywhere from 5% to
25% of the client platform market share, when measuring all MACHINES
in use by end-users (as opposed to servers).

Linux has the opportunity to punch through a big hole created by
Microsoft as well. With Longhorn being delayed, possibly another 2
years, and IT departments making new buying decisions now, most IT
buyers are at least looking to make sure that new machines are "Linux
Compatible". This may include doing a standard installation of Linux
on the machine to make sure that it installs correctly with all of the
drivers being available.

Many companies who are using Linux clients, either as primary or
secondary client environments, are finding that they have better
security, better control over system configuration, and better
resistance to viruses and other "mischief". Many companies are now
using Linux servers as "clients", similar to the old "NetStation"
concept proposed by Sun's Java organization several years ago. Users
install a VNC client on their Windows machine, and access Linux server
"Client environments" via a high speed network. Since Linux can
support multiple users of this type concurrently, it's fairly
cost-effective to run a few of these "On Demand" desktop servers,
rather than put Linux machines on every desktop to the exclusion of
Windows.

Linux has shown itself to have outstanding security (no successful
attacks on Linux workstations or on the core Linux server systems).
Most of the securyt leaks that have been announced are theoretical,
and have never been successfully exploited. The handful of successful
attacks typically only effect systems which have been deliberately
reconfigured - making them more vulnerable in spite warnings to avoid
such modifications (set /etc/rhosts to *).

Linux has had 64 bit capability since the mid 1990s, and the AMD chip
is certainly ready to run Linux. OEMs who want to move to 64 bit
computing will be faced with the risks of waiting 2+ years for
LongHorn, or a potentially explosive market in 64 bit Linux machines.
At this point OEMs are looking at each other, and watching the "White
Box" market very carefully, hoping to enter with 64 bit Linux at the
first sign of a breakthrough shift in the market. At this point,
"White Boxes" usually configured to run Linux, now represent the
largest segment of the market, more than any other single OEM.

Also, the prices on XP boxes are dropping, with no end in sight. The
faster processors buy you very little since Windows XP is still very
disk intensive. The Linux box has the potential to capture the hearts
of those looking for some heavy power, especially those who do not
reboot their machines every day.

Finally, Cygwin may be the "worm that ate windows". It's becoming
very popular, especially among those who want to stay competitent in
the *nix environment, but don't want to give up their Windows systems
and applications.
It's also becoming essential for things like SSH (OpenSSH), as well as
quick and dirty ad-hoc solutions typical of PERL, AWK, and SED.
Cygwin has also become a very popular prototyping tool for those
wanting to write applications eventually headed to Linux or UNIX,
especially AIX, Solaris, or HP_UX, all of whom have addopted Linux
API, Tools, and applications compatibility.

You might not see "Linux" being broadcast by the browser, but these
days nearly everyone has at least one, sometimes 2-3 Linux boxes in
their home/office. Those cable modems and DSL modems - run Linux.
Those recording boxes like TIVO, run Linux. The WiFi hub runs Linux.
Your cell phone, digital camera, and even your car, may be running
Linux. You didn't know or care, because you just needed that simple
web interface to get everything configured. But you also noticed that
once you got it configured, you didn't have to think about it much
after that.

Let's go back to that mythical user again shall we?

It's quite likely that about 87% use Windows in some form or another
(including WINE).

But it's also quite likely that about 70% are using Linux in some form
or another - - and don't even know it.

Of course, when you consider the entire computing experience,
everything a user does from surfing the web, to printing the document
he wrote on Word, 100% of all users use UNIX/Linux at for at least 1/2
the work they accomplish.

Rex Ballard