chalk, he gave you his opinion of Linux. That is what you asked for in a round about way, correct? He said "let me tell you where I stand on Linux. Don't use it. Don't need it. If, in future, I can find a place where it will be useful, I will use it." That is his position on Linux.
Although I did find his comments sarcastic, I'd not agree that they were inane. His comments were quite substantive. The article is a smoke and mirrors advertisement for Linux. For an example, let's use my favorite excerpt from a Ross Perot TV spot from his '92 campaign. (I'm not ruffling feathers here, so let's not get political.)
He said that it is wonderfully easy to manipulate numbers. If you have a penny and I give you another penny, there are two ways for you to explain your gain. You can say, I gained 1 cent. You could also say that you doubled your current capitol or had a 100% gain.
Linux advertising flows in much the same vein. For example from Red Hat's web site.
http://www.redhat.com/about/corporate/milestones.html December 1998
"IDC proclaims that Linux's 750,000 installed servers represent a 212 percent increase from the year before, a growth rate that outpaced Windows NT, NetWare, UNIX and all other comers in the server market."
I won't say that 750k is a small number, but it pales in comparison to the millions of installed NT, NetWare, and UNIX servers. Who cares what the percentage increase is? The important fact is that the install base, though growing, is still rather small.
From the article we are all commenting on:
"One in five servers, computers that handle Internet traffic and corporate networks, ran on Linux among those sold last year, and the software is expected to gain market share. "
Again, 20% of the of servers sold last year is a large number, but how does it compare to total market share (that of all servers, not just the ones sold last year). I'll also say that I doubt these numbers. I'd like to see the evidence they have to support that 20% of servers sold last year run Linux.
Linux is an interesting little phenomenon. It is important in that it is attacking UNIX from the server end and Windows on the desktop end. I've yet to read that a Linux vendor is profitable, so I can't say that I expect Linux to continue. For the time being, I see nothing that I can do that Windows doesn't do already. For me that means, I have little interest in hearing about it.
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