Jesse Berst, Editorial Director of ZDNet AnchorDesk, worries that what went wrong with UNIX (forking) may adversely impact Linux . . .

“Is the ghost of Linux past coming back to haunt it?”

“There's incredible momentum behind the open source operating system. Its server market share surged to the No. 2 spot last year, according to International Data Corp. Wall Street has been head-over-heels infatuated with anything Linux.”

“Now come rumblings that Linux may not be able to sustain that momentum. That it may become another niche OS like Unix, from which it is derived. Incompatible versions — or forking — may jeopardize its standing in the IT community. Wall Street is already retreating. To understand what it means, consider where Linux came from, where it is today and its vulnerability in the future.”

” . . . The kind of fragmentation that crippled Unix also haunts Linux. A number of vendors hawk their own flavors of the OS. Minor examples of forking already exist. Linux advocates say it won't be a problem because major vendors are developing a Linux Standard Base. And besides, they've got Torvalds' calming influence.”

“But they've also got Wall Street cooling off.”

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