【正文】 ning, security and future of a business. Because Linux is basically a freeforall it means that no individual person/pany is accountable should anything go wrong, plus there is no way to predict which way Linux will evolve.’’ Stock in Red Hat hits $135/share. The price seems unbelievably high at the time. October 1999 Sun Microsystems announces that it will release the source to Solaris under the Sun Community Source License. The actual release drew criticism: ``In a move aimed at Linux, Sun said it will announce Wednesday that it is making the source code for its new Solaris 8 operating system ‘open’. Webster’s has lots of definitions for the word, including ‘not sealed, fastened, or locked’. But when you dig into the details of Sun’s announcement, you’ll find that what it is offering doesn’t e close to meeting the dictionary’s definition, let alone that of the Open Source movement.’’Lawrence Aragon, , January 26, 20xx November 1999 ``...if there’s one thing about Linux users, they’re doers, not whiners.’’Andy Patrizio, Red Hat buys Cygnus for almost $700 million in stock. Rumors of other acquisitions by Red Hat begin to circulate and show no signs of stopping. December 1999 VA Linux Systems goes public after two repricings (originally priced at $11$13/share). The final IPO price is $30/share。 as such, it’s essentially a $199 (without monitor) X terminal. Reports first appear that SCO may be purchased by Caldera. Later in 20xx Caldera and SCO announce their intent for Caldera International to be formed from Caldera’s existing operation and two of SCO’s three divisions. Ted Ts’o steps forward to bee the new status list maintainer. Alan Cox was doing the job until he said that it was time to ``find someone else to maintain it’’. Ted Ts’o responded to Linus’ subsequent call for a new status list maintainer. August 20xx HP, Intel, IBM and NEC announce the ``Open Source Development Lab’’, which makes large hardware available to Linux developers for benchmarking and testing. September 20xx ``I’m a bastard. I have absolutely no clue why people can ever think otherwise. Yet they do. People think I’m a nice guy, and the fact is that I’m a scheming, conniving bastard who doesn’t care for any hurt feelings or lost hours of work if it just results in what I consider to be a better system.’’Linus Torvalds trying to change his image. The RSA patent expires, allowing for secure web transactions without proprietary software. Trolltech releases the Qt library under the GPL, putting a definitive end to a longrunning and unpleasant license flame war. The CueCat fiasco begins. Digital Convergence attempts to shut down programmers who have written Linux drivers for its CueCat bar code scanner. The pany has given out large numbers of these scanners for free, expecting people to use them with its proprietary software and web site. The threats cause the drivers to bee marginally harder to find for a short period, after which the pany declares victory and moves on. October 20xx Microsoft says that penguins can mutate in a European print ad that quickly bees famous. December 20xx ``I was dumbfounded to discover that installing Linux was easy. Why? Well, the world has changed. No more do you have to understand everything about Linux before you install it, downloading the many chunks of code necessary to run a plete system and getting them all to work together. That was BSWbefore shrinkwrap. With panies such as Red Hat and Corel putting all the software you need in a box, the pain is (nearly) gone.’’John Schwartz, Washington Post IBM announces plans to invest $1 billion in Linux in 20xx. January 20xx The longawaited kernel was released on January 4. The US National Security Agency (NSA) releases SELinux under the GPL. SELinux offers an additional layer of security checks in addition to the standard UNIXlike permissions system. March 20xx The Linux kernel summit is held in San Jose, California。 a lastminute repricing helps to create difficulties for people participating in the munity offering. The stock price immediately rises to $50。 and WorkGroup Solutions (also known as LinuxMall). The plaintiffs prevail, and in 1997 announce the matter as settled by the assignment of the mark to Linus Torvalds on behalf of all Petitioners and Linux users. September 1994 Linux is first mentioned in the mainstream press. Wired magazine features an article titled ``Kernel Kid’’, by Seth Rosenthal. He writes: ``So, is Linus going to bee the Bill Gates of Finland? Maybe not. He claims to be ‘by no means a good student’ and is in no hurry to graduate since ‘Linux has taken a lot of time from my studies, and I like the work I have at the University which keeps me alive.’’’ Randolph Bentson reports on the world’s first vendorsupported Linux device driver in Linux Journal. Cyclades gave him a multiport serial card in exchange for developing a Linux driver for it. December 1994 A major tradeshow and conference take notice of Linux. Open Systems World features a Linux track, hosted by Linux Journal. Two days of seminars include Eric Youngdale, Donald Becker, Dirk Hohndel, Phil Hughes, Michael K. Johnson and David Wexelblat as speakers. April 1995 Linux Expo, the first Linuxspecific tradeshow and conference series, launches, thanks to the folks at North Carolina State University and in particular, Donnie Barnes. Speakers include Marc Ewing, Rik Faith and Michael K. Johnson, among others. Linux Expo snowballs and bees the most popular and wellattended annual Linux show for the next several years (after three years Red Hat takes over anization and bees the major sponsor). The price for entry into the exhibit hall and a pass to the conferences? $4. January 1997 First ``Linux virus’’ discovered. Called Bliss, it actually works on any UNIXlike