The new year starts with plenty of good news for Linux fans.
Stocks are back on the rise after bottoming out at New Year's.
The 2.4 kernel stream has been released, which means that we should start seeing production-quality versions seeping into the enterprise before summertime. Necessary consolidations are taking place, such as the planned merger of Linuxcare and Turbolinux. Even Microsoft, most open sourcers' primary nemesis, is unwittingly making life easier for Linux advocates. As far as the 2.4 kernel is concerned, I'm a little surprised that anyone would have taken last week's column for Linux-bashing, as some folks did. I'm not denying that 2.4 is chock-full of significant advances that promise to extend Linux's appeal beyond providing Internet infrastructure.