Inertia the obstacle to Linux on the desktop

The progress of Linux on the desktop has been slower than many may have hoped. Microsoft Windows is deeply entrenched, and any competing system has to overcome obstacles of inertia, perception and distribution, but it would be a mistake to assume that nothing has happened, or that no progress is being made.

The migration of Linux into the server space was also slow, and began with a steady uptake on the smaller backroom tasks during the 1990s, (file and print servers, LAMP applications, web servers and firewalls), before its rapid adoption during the dotcom boom by IBM, HP and others.