What happened to fire on Linux Today?

After years of going to "Linux Today" for news regarding Linux and, especially, for insightful comments regarding these, I have come to realize that the site is not what it used to be. I first heard the mention of Linux in a talkback to an eWeek article where someone made the claim that something called Linux was, in his opinion, ready for prime time. The man was flamed to death, but without first putting some very intriguing arguments that left me wondering. A search on Linux, brought me to "Linux Today" where I found a cornucopia of interesting articles and discussions. I quickly realized that the Linux Today discussions were nothing like the eWeek talkbacks. These were a lot more serious, insightful, and mature. It was a great place for a newbie to learn, and for old hackers to mingle. Over the years I saved quite a few "memorable quotes" from some of the most prolific posters such as Dean Pannell (a.k.a. dinotrac)", "Nicholas Donovan", "Art Cancro", "AJWM -- Alstair", "Eric Laffoon", "Jimmy the Geek", "Gary Edwards", and many others. I think that many Linuxers today owe these people a lot of our current understanding of the issues surrounding Linux.

Now, however, Linux Today seems to be a far different place. There is still a fair amount of responses to certain articles, and Linux is still being defended and explained. But, some of the old flame seems to be gone. In particular, the comments by people such as those I mentioned before are mostly missing. What happened? Some claim that this is a result of the inclusion of Microsoft sponsored adds to that site. These, along with suspicions of a "sell out" by the site may have made some of the old guard wander off to other grounds. This is certainly plausible. If that is the case, where is the best place to go for Linux news and insightful discussions today?

I suspect, however, that the answer to what happened may be a different one. The fire and zeal of the early days, the days of the revolution, may have subsided because, simply the revolution is over. At least, intellectually, Linux has won. When did this happen? Well, of course, this was a slow progression. Some may think that this happened in January of 2001, when IBM wholeheartedly embraced Linux at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in New York city. That was certainly a big development, and to IBM's credit they were some of the first to realize that Linux was the next big thing. But, there was still a lot of skepticism, fear, and misunderstanding surrounding Linux. The war was not yet won.

On May, 2002, BusinessWeek ran an article entitled "Giant Steps for a Software Upstart". It explained how Linux was almost there, almost accepted by the mainstream, but not quite completely there yet. On that same month, the story about how a congressman from Venezuela stood up to Microsoft and the fascinating way in which he logically refuted their arguments reverberated far and wide. By the end of 2002, there was no denying that Linux was not going anywhere and that the market was finally ready to adopt Linux in all areas. On December, 2002, a report by Paul J. Dravis (dated October, 2002) hit the wires on Linux Today. The report was entitled "A Survey on Open Source Software". For those that had been following Linux for years, this article basically stated the obvious. However, it was an excellent report that summarized the status quo at that point in time. I don't know if the report is still available anywhere online. However, I do have a copy of that report. A brief quote from the executive summary of the report is the following:

"The convergence of multiple factors are driving Linux and open source software adoption. They include 1) Linux's similarity to the UNIX operating system, along with leverage gained by its availability on the Intel platform, 2) an increased focus on lowering technology expenses, 3) access to a global community of software developers, and 4) desires to reduce Microsoft's ability to leverage its desktop software monopoly into other areas of technology.

Regardless of the rationale, major software and hardware firms are supporting the use of Linux in products as diverse as home entertainment centers, digital video recorders, PDA's and communications equipment. Google runs its Internet Search business on it with over 10,000 systems. Amazon.com is migrating its infrastructure to it. Wall Street firms are incorporating it into trading systems. Walt Disney, DreamWorks, and Industrial Light and Magic are pursing film production with it. L.L. Bean supports its e-mail on it. Even the United States White House's web site runs it and a security enhanced version is available from the National Security Agency's web site."

Finally, the following month, again at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in New York city, came the point at which I believe that Linux finally reached mainstream adoption. Having been there personally, there was no doubt in my mind that the days of Linux being a fringe operating system were now definitely gone. Headlines such as "Open-source software: A reality in any enterprise", "Linux makes new PC waves, and profits", "Penguins Take On Titans", and "Life looks good for Linux" were all over the news. Yes, Linux was now mainstream.

The only remaining battle for Linux credibility seemed to be the one that SCO attempted to launch latter that year. The Linuxers were in fine form and raised to the occasion well, as can be seen from the talkbacks on articles such as the following:

• OSI President Responds to SCO's DoS Claims
• PC Magazine: Killing Linux
• Response to SCO's Open Letter

Eventually though, SCO's arguments were completely debunked and most everyone understood that their claims were baseless. Of course, the legal system is slower than the Linux community, but even these seem to be headed to the same conclusion. So, what is my point? Well, I think that maybe, another theory of why the old Linux Today fire is missing is because it is not really necessary any more. The Linux ideology revolution is over. Does that mean that World domination has been achieved. Well, no, obviously, but that may never happen. There are still threats to Linux, but they are not ideological, they are political, technical, and economical. Those battles are still being fought, but the players are not the same. The FUD wars are over.