Anyone who has been closely following Linux knows the 2.4.0 announcement isn't really a big deal. This ZDNet column by Evan Leibovitch examines the significance of the latest major Linux release. Leibovitch writes . . .

“I don't know of any real Linux developers or users who are 'beside themselves with joy' at the announcement January 4 of the new Linux kernel the way one report suggests. Just try to find any release parties, press conferences, or the like on any Linux event calendar. You won't. For some this may be a time for brief pause and congratulation, and then time to plow right back into the code.”

“As anyone who has used Linux in the past knows, the dot-zero kernel announcement serves only one key purpose: it gets more people to test the new kernel, especially early adopters who don't often download interim kernels. These are folks who the kernel group wants running and testing the 2.4 kernel, to find bugs now so they can be fixed for the real releases of 2.4.”

“It's what Linus meant, in all seriousness, when he said that he released 2.4.0 to the general public because 'things don't get better from having the same people test it over and over again' . . .”

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