Smear Factor

John Dvorak on the Linux movement's zombie-like unstoppability.

The problem is that the strategy must be pursued unrelentingly. It's not as if the competition can be destroyed; Linux is like a Night of the Living Dead zombie that cannot be killed. It can only be slowed down. Thus, the anti-Linux forces will have to invent more and more concepts like the Linux/Torvalds code ploy to keep the pressure on… So what we are bound to see is more and more of the subtle, sniping, guerrilla ploys that do not amount to much individually but collectively do a lot of damage. The best ones won't even be associated with Microsoft but will look as if they have emerged spontaneously from within the Linux user community. It should be fun to watch.