Comments on: Linux poised to make a splash on the desktop, like, really soon now. Seriously. http://telegraph-road.org/blog/2007/09/05/linux-poised-to-make-a-splash-on-the-desktop-like-really-soon-now-seriously/ Guillaume Laurent's blog Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:24:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: glaurent http://telegraph-road.org/blog/2007/09/05/linux-poised-to-make-a-splash-on-the-desktop-like-really-soon-now-seriously/#comment-2191 glaurent Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:34:24 +0000 http://telegraph-road.org/blog/2007/09/05/linux-poised-to-make-a-splash-on-the-desktop-like-really-soon-now-seriously/#comment-2191 OK, I concede dating this back to 1998 is a bit of a stretch, but not quite so. Back then we (the Open Source community) were quite drunk on the Netscape thing, and how all of a sudden the industry was paying attention. Excitement kept increasing from there, until even after the Net-bubble burst of 2001. I remember the first GUADEC back in 2000, and I can assure you that at the time there was no doubt in our minds that Linux on the desktop was a matter of months. If someone today could travel back to that time, and make a demo like "this is where you'll be 8 years from now - this is where Windows will be - this is where OS/X will be", we'd probably have been very depressed. OK, I concede dating this back to 1998 is a bit of a stretch, but not quite so. Back then we (the Open Source community) were quite drunk on the Netscape thing, and how all of a sudden the industry was paying attention. Excitement kept increasing from there, until even after the Net-bubble burst of 2001. I remember the first GUADEC back in 2000, and I can assure you that at the time there was no doubt in our minds that Linux on the desktop was a matter of months.

If someone today could travel back to that time, and make a demo like “this is where you’ll be 8 years from now – this is where Windows will be – this is where OS/X will be”, we’d probably have been very depressed.

]]> By: CD-Host http://telegraph-road.org/blog/2007/09/05/linux-poised-to-make-a-splash-on-the-desktop-like-really-soon-now-seriously/#comment-2188 CD-Host Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:54:53 +0000 http://telegraph-road.org/blog/2007/09/05/linux-poised-to-make-a-splash-on-the-desktop-like-really-soon-now-seriously/#comment-2188 No one I new thought 1998 would be the year Linux would gain a foothold on the desktop. Heck it was fighting hard in most server areas to gain mainstream acceptance to replace Unix servers. What was the case was that by 1998 was that OEM based versions of desktop linux became available. That is it was possible to configure a system for an average user which companies like Pep-Boys and Burlington Coat factory (that is Solaris / SCO shops) did successfully and started transitioning. KDE 1.0 wasn't released till midway through 1998 and while early versions of Gnome would come out in 1999 the foundation wasn't until 2000. Windows pulled off the XP merger of their 2000 and ME lines successfully had it been a disaster there might have been migration in 2001 or so. But getting the NT kernel into the hands of end users solved many of the problems which the 1990s Linux addressed. No one I new thought 1998 would be the year Linux would gain a foothold on the desktop. Heck it was fighting hard in most server areas to gain mainstream acceptance to replace Unix servers.

What was the case was that by 1998 was that OEM based versions of desktop linux became available. That is it was possible to configure a system for an average user which companies like Pep-Boys and Burlington Coat factory (that is Solaris / SCO shops) did successfully and started transitioning.

KDE 1.0 wasn’t released till midway through 1998 and while early versions of Gnome would come out in 1999 the foundation wasn’t until 2000.

Windows pulled off the XP merger of their 2000 and ME lines successfully had it been a disaster there might have been migration in 2001 or so. But getting the NT kernel into the hands of end users solved many of the problems which the 1990s Linux addressed.

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