Matt Alexander wrote:
> ... will you still find it interesting to use Linux?
> Or will all the challenge and glory of the good ol' days
> be gone, enough so that you move on to something else?

My strongest programming background is in the Unix world,
and Linux lets me work in that world.  I see Un*x in
generic terms, because portability is an important aspect
of software in this world.

I use Linux because I believe it is something I need to know
about as a software professional.  I see Linux as a growing
"brand" of Un*x systems, possibly overtaking the others
in commercial terms.  I'm also interested in the prospects
for Linux in the embedded world.

I'm not here for the challenge.  I'm here because it works.
And yes, because I can afford to work in this world because
I don't have to pay large license fees to Redmond for every
new product I try out.

I am a sophisticated user of the Microsoft products, which
I appreciate in their place, but have not acquired deep
experience with them from a programming point of view.
That is partly a choice, because the Unix/Linux world is
a better place for quality software, and the Free Software
movement helps to keep it that way.  But it's also simply
easier to work in the Unix world, because there are fewer
deep secrets and inextricable intertwinglements of everything
with everything else.  So you can look at one thing at a
time and do it right.  But again, this is not specifically
Linux but the Unix world in general.

So for me, Linux is just the fastest growing OS in the
general Un*x idiom where I feel comfortable, and it has
room for all the development I need to do.

I think some BSD variants are more promising for server
work, and I don't know for sure where the desktop is going,
but the whole computing world will be very different five
years from now from what it is today.  Desktops have almost
topped out, much of the action will be in hand-held and
portable and embedded devices, and in the networks that
connect them.  So nobody had better be standing still!

Vic