At first glance, it looked as if Microsoft representatives sneaked onto the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo trade-show floor and loaded the Windows operating system on exhibitors" computers.
And that"s a good thing, insist the many company representatives who are showing off Windows look-alike desktop packages at the show: Linux needs a familiar, comfy interface to woo users away from Windows.
Linux on every desktop has been a long-desired goal in the open-source development community, stymied until recently by the fact that many desktop interfaces weren"t overly welcoming to average computer users.
But now anyone who is capable of dealing with a Windows system can easily work with Linux. The open-source operating system appears poised to at least begin to move onto desktops in a big way over the next year.