The Rebel Alliance -- Linux Creating Worry, Anxiety at Microsoft.

[HuckleB]

THE REBEL ALLIANCE

An unlikely army of hacker hippies, geek visionaries, idealistic teachers and corporate giants is making Portland ground zero of a digital revolution.

http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=4764

"Tux the Penguin is a fat little thing. He's google-eyed and sports a grin that suggests a recent lobotomy.

Weird symbol for a revolution. Yet Tux is the mascot of a movement that's rocking the computer world.

One of the strongholds of that rebellion is in a ho-hum Beaverton office park, home of the Open Source Development Lab. The Lab is the self-proclaimed "center of gravity" for the global phenomenon Tux symbolizes. The mission is evangelical. The cause is Linux.

Linux is a computer operating system invented in Finland in 1991 by a college kid named Linus Torvalds. Torvalds, now a 34-year-old tech superstar whom some see as the love child of Thomas Edison and Che Guevara, works for the Beaverton Lab, backed by a roll-call of tech titans: Intel, IBM, Hitachi, Dell, Cisco. Last month, Torvalds unveiled the latest version of Linux. Nicknamed "the Beaver," it's viewed as a huge improvement to a system already beloved by geeks. "

http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=4764

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Brazil Falls In Love with Linux

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3445805.stm

"At the same time, there is a lively debate in computing circles over whether Linux is genuinely more secure.

"Fans of Linux and the open source movement will say that by being publicly available, there are far more people who can work on it, more people who can detect problems, and provide fixes for them more quickly," says Bryan Glick, of London-based trade newspaper Computing.

"On the other side, Microsoft will say there's no way you can manage something like that using software programmers all around the world, you need to have it within a company that has all its expertise within its own doors."

Whatever the underlying reason, Linux is spreading fast in Brazil, although it is impossible to estimate how many organisations have adopted it so far. "This is happening from the bottom up, and not from the top down, as you might find in big companies," says Mr Zappi."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3445805.stm

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The news is good: Linux ain't going away. It's just getting better.

[mhr]

1. Long-Time Linux User, It Gets Better And Better With Time

eom

[Must_B_Free]

2. Don;t forget AMD/Intel

- AMD has cheap 64-bit CPUs fully compatible with existing 32-bit code.

- Latest Intel revision of P4 (Prescott) is a flop - slow and hot - (good for sex but not for CPUs).

- 64 bit Linux on 64 bit AMD chips taking the latest performance records.

Cheaper and gives the owner more control of the game.

They better be scared.

[ret5hd]

3. amd and linux...

my choice on my box

[Cheesehead]

4. Those TV adds are really compelling

The ones that equate open source software to childhood learning. All kinds of experts collaborate to educate (develop) little Linux. Very smart!

[SpiralHawk]

5. I'm thinking of switching from my old Mac Powerbook to an IBM Thinkpad

What's the skinny on that?

I would be running IBM's version of Linux Open System on that, right?

A smart move?

Or should a stick with Mac, get a new PB running the latest version of OX.whatever?

I just do the usual crud on my machine -- nothing fancy.

Your "expert" opinion would be highly valued

[Taeger]

6. Linux is a lifestyle

If you have something that works, stick with it. Linux is still for geeks and managed environments.

[HuckleB]

7. Stick with Mac for your next purchase.

See where things go with Linux in the next few years.

[Forkboy]

8. As soon as my games are compatible

I'm switching.

[sendero]

9. Linux...

... is a better, more robust, more secure OS than Windows will *ever* be.

Microsoft should be worried. Their strongarm tactics are not going to save them from Linux.