"Linux is more stable, about as fast, every bit as pretty, and almost as easy to install as anything Microsoft has produced. However, far fewer office productivity applications are written for Linux, and peripheral support is still furlongs behind that of Windows. And to be honest, Linux isn't quite as easy to use. But there's light at the end of the open-source tunnel. I give Linux a year or so before it closes the usability gap. Linux is definetly here to stay. If Linux makes the kind of progress it has in the network operating-system realm, it could be a viable alternative for laptop users," writes Jon L. Jacobi.