Linux users say it runs computers more efficiently, proficiently and reliably and it isn't prone to the kind of lockups and system crashes that Windows is infamous for. Yet, for all its pluses, Linux can be daunting to all but the savviest computer users. It's an operating system -- no, a culture -- that's completely foreign, if not downright scary, to many of us in the point-and-click crowd. In Linux land, people talk about "kernels," "distributions" and "open-source software" and throw "installfests," where experienced users help newbies load Linux onto their machines. Better get used to it. Linux is playing more of a role in our computing lives than we may realize, even if we don't use it on our personal computers. And its role is only going to get bigger.