Linuxworld Conference

Think of Linux as your invisible yet ever-present friend. Like God. "There's not a single person in the modern world who doesn't use it," says Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "When you run a Google search, use an ATM, get GPS directions, set your TiVo..." To support this proliferation of Linux-dependent activity, the number of developers has doubled in the past two years. Thousands of these coding geeks will pack the room when Zemlin moderates a panel on two Linux-related trends: the future of mobile computing and demand in the U.S. for cheaper computers. In November Wal-Mart sold out its entire stock of $200 Linux PCs in two weeks.

--EG