Linux guru hails victory over NT

Linux will outstrip Microsoft Windows NT as a server operating system in as little as a year, according to open source guru, Eric Raymond.

Raymond told Silicon.com: "The trend curve is pretty clear. We've won the battle for the server market. All the trend curves indicate that we'll probably overtake Windows NT in the next nine months to a year. The next big confrontation is on the desktop."

Raymond claimed Linux is reliable, flexible, configurable, and inexpensive; views echoed by respondents to Silicon.com's recent Linux survey. One viewer said: "Linux is more capable of providing the service we require and, as a bonus, it does not crash." Another claimed: "It's just safe, reliable and, in general, better than Windows NT."

However, Raymond said the fight to win desktop market share is a technical and social problem that must be solved immediately. He claimed GUI (graphical user interface) development is the key, with two main candidates to become the dominant interface.

"The most prominent work at the moment is [in] the Gnome and KDE projects, both of which are looking like strong desktop interfaces. Both are accumulating excellent suites and applications around themselves," he said.