Negative Press -- Linux in the hotseat

Well several articles are out regarding the reversal of several high profile Linux conversions. Case in point the Birmingham City Council recently halting the continuation of a project to convert stations and public access systems to Linux. Novell's recent strategic alliance and the general slow-down of the FOSS/Linux hype engine.

I'm one of those people that believes that Linux has a good deal of potential, but I've never really been one to advocate a desktop conversion. I still feel that Linux is at its best in the server role. My development stations and network monitoring/system administration systems. Will Linux become a desktop powerhouse? I hope so, but I don't know that that time is now. I'm still hedging my bets that truly significant inroads aren't going to be in place until around 2009 or so. (Don't quote me on this, I'm just doing a rough projection based on how user friendly Linux has been since 1995)