After much anticipation, the Linux 2.4 kernel is finally ready to make its debut — and with this release, Linux truly becomes “Enterprise Ready.” We will fill you in on all of the new and improved features.
Some of you may remember that in January 2000 we wrote about the imminent release of the Linux 2.4 kernel. Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 12 months, you are probably aware that this expectation was somewhat premature. Almost a year later, the 2.4 kernel still has not reached “official” release status.
More than a few people have complained about the “lateness” of the 2.4 release. However, as any good kernel hacker will tell you, you can release software that’s good, software that’s inexpensive, or software that’s available on time. You can usually release software that has two of these three attributes — but not all three.
However, open source software seems to adhere to a somewhat different set of principles. Open source developers have a “release no software before its time” policy. Rather than shipping buggy code that doesn’t meet their standards, the Linux kernel developers would rather wait until “it’s done right.”
In any case, it would be unfair to accuse the kernel development team of a late release. They never promised us a kernel by Christmas — certainly not by Christmas of 1999.
However, as we go to press with this issue, it does appear that the long-awaited release of the 2.4 kernel is imminent. For several weeks now, Linus Torvalds himself has been indicating that the new kernel should be posted, “in early December,”…
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