Linux Quickly Gaining Acceptance

If anyone outside the tightly-knit Linux community thought of Linux even six months ago, they might have gotten a picture of a bunch of geeks up late, hacking on a niche operating system whose main purpose in life was not being Microsoft Windows.

Wrong.

Not only is Linux quickly becoming a real alternative for people who want
to deploy Unix servers for IT or Web purposes and don’t want to pay
workstation prices, but it’s also showing up on a surprising number of
desktops of users as a replacement for Windows.

Some of Tuesday’s most interesting announcements:

• IBM announced not just compatibility with, but corporate support for,
  Linux…including co-marketing with a number of commercial Linux
  distributors, WebSphere support, and porting Linunx to its RS/6000 systems.

• Tripwire, a high-end security company, announced
  immediate availability of one its key products…free for Red Hat Linux users.
• Computer Associates International announced it would be
  releasing its mainstream IT management Unicenter TNG Framework product,
  also free on Red Hat Linux.
• SCO, the leading provider of Unix software — and who actually own Unix — announced it had added the ability to run Linux binaries to its own
  UnixWare platform, instantly knocking out the old canard about “splintering
  of the Unix/Linux community.”