Well, I think Linux is here to stay. I run a small dial-up Internet service and webhosting service with Linux for the past 10 years. But my day job is writing software for Windows. So I work with both OS's daily. However, I don't think Linux will penetrate the home market signifcantly anytime soon and I don't think corporations are willing to use Linux because it is too complex for the average desk worker and doesn't have the same amount of business software.
But Linux will stay because it will always have its niche like the Mac has its niche. The difference between Linux and OS/2 is that Linux is opensource and is a variant of Unix. There will always be people who prefer to use a free Unix than Windows and there will always be people who will contribute their time to write drivers for Linux (Something that OS/2 never had or never had much of). Windows, though has come a long way in the last 10 years as an Internet tool. It would have been extremely difficult to use Windows to run a dial-up Internet service or webserver 10 years ago. Today, it is extremely simple. The main thing stopping me from porting my Internet service over to Windows is the cost. Right now, running it in Linux is practically free for me. To run the same service in Windows would cost me quite a few thousand dollars in licenses. For most companies though, software licenses are not a big deal so Windows will continue to dominate on most desktops for a while there. For the home, I think most users will stay with Windows. I have a choice right now to use either OS for my HTPC but I am going with Windows even though I know Linux pretty well (and use ELM to read my daily Email). If I were to install or buy a new system for the average client of mine or a friend, I would not put Linux on there.
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