It is part of my work to look at multiple open source solutions in different area if IT - Operating Systems, Productivity, Application Development and Hosting, etc. I recall starting with Linux in 1992/3 (with QNX actually in 1987), with the Kernel 0.9X. Fascinating! And so many people involved. Every question a quick answer and so many possibilities in the upcoming data communication area. A friend run a First Class BBS then and we used a Linux Box to supply News Feeds (Remember nntp) and Email (remember uucp) to it. Today my main interest in open source focuses mainly: 1.) Application Development, Delivery and Operations 2.) Open Source as Desktop solution For Number 1 the choices of products are either the RedHat or Sun centric stack. In the Red Hat stack I am looking at Jboss Application Server, Enterprise Server Bus and BPM Engine. In the Sun centric stack it would be Glassfish Application Server, OpenESB Enterprise Service Bus and BPEL Engine, MySQL Database Server, openPortal and Netbeans - one of the best IDEs around. For Number 2 - The Open Source Desktop evolves around Linux with a set of typical products. My choice of work-Laptop uses the KDE Flavor of Ubuntu, called Kubuntu in Version 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. Using OpenOffice.ORG, Evolution oder KDE-PIM, Pidgin, Firefox, etc. on a daily basis and as a replacement to a common Microsoft Windows image. The point is not, not to use Microsoft, but to show that alternatives also work. At home by the way I have an iMac with OS X 10.5, but also an Windows XP Laptop and Desktop. That said, the user experience on Linux is very good for me. I do all the things I like and I am not constantly bug fixing. Its all menu driven. Installing (or removing) new software is easier then on Windows or a Mac (there is an program with an application listing: Just click on a name and it auto-downloaded and auto-installs). Even in the enterprise I find it a suitable and possible replacement. In all areas. I will be posting more about the Application and Linux Desktop landscape in the coming days and weeks, in much more detail. Feel free to join the discussion and add a comment. Axel