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I used to love Linux. I used it for almost everything. But the Linux "counter-culture" (which is a relatively recent phenomena in the history of Linux) turned me off to it.

If it were me, I wouldn't be swayed by others opinions or actions (which I'm not, so it must be true). I like and use Linux because it does what I want it to do and is a great OS. I use *BSD for the same reason.

That's all well and good. But advocates do not a successful platform make.

An interesting statement since advocates are exactly what made Linux what it is today. Large companies like IBM looked at what was going on and saw a way to capitalize on it. That is quite an accomplishment considering Linux's roots.

Large corporations may make Linux better and more accessible for the average user, but there work is largely irrelevant to the core Linux user base. Its the advocates that make both *BSD and Linux what they are. That's is why MS is having such a hard time with Linux. They can't squash individual contributors like they can corporations.

Advocates do not attract commercial developers.

No, but they do attract people who think its fun to write programs, which is where most Linux and BSD apps come from. Commercial development projects are driven by revenue. Linux and *BSD for the most part are not.

It will not depend on how many radical advocates it has.

I tend to disagree because I used Linux back when there weren't any corporations involved. I liked it then and I liked it now. A good number of people feel this way.

Anyway, the main discussion is not how deeply Linux or BSD will penetrate corporations. It was your statement that BSD will dethrone Linux because MS is going to make C# and .NET available on BSD.

None of what you are saying is relevant because most Linux users couldn't care less about C# and .NET. In fact, they probably would never use it just out of spite, even if it did have technical merit.

Like I said before. BSD will not dethrone Linux anytime soon. There installer alone is enough to drive the curious away. To this you replied that corporations are more knowledgable about such things and don't have a problem installing BSD. I disagree. I have worked for large health care companies, banks, government agencies, retail chains, and large software companies including Microsoft. For the most part, sysadmins and developers haven't got a clue about Linux, BSD or any other Unix or unix-like operating systems; and the decision making managers couldn't find their unix with both hands. If they can't install it, or don't understand its merits, they will not use it. As I said before, until BSD gets all the whirling graphics, shiney buttons and comforting installers like Mandrake (which I don't like by the way) BSD will never be able to dethrone Linux.

Couple this with the current popular opinion that BSD is dead and fear alone will see to it that BSD isn't adopted.

I like Open, Net and FreeBSD and hope they are around for a long time (at least until I die, after that I don't care) however, they have a lot of work to do on their image as well as their product before dreams of dethroning Linux will ever be realized. I'm not saying Linux is better than *BSD, I like them equally well, however, reality must be considered.

Don't agrue with me about it, just watch and see.