I'm not surprised to see how well Linux performs in real time audio tasks. Linux is a PC version of the "old" Unix OS, born in scientific/academic communities (physicians, for example, use it, almost exclusively). Unix/Linux is, originally, a command language, like MS-DOS, and the huge Linux community has developed other software layers that have been making it a very user friendly OS, and prefered by many people, even not very computer literate. For example, recently, Munich (Germany) decided to equip the public administration with the free/open OS Linux (check the story here: http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32690_p.htm ). Consequence: a considerable Microsoft crisis, not only because of the direct and obvious economic consequence but specialy because of the "bad example"...

I've been using Linux for more than 10 years, in my scientific work, doing heavy math and physics simulations, that sometimes take days to complete (my first PC with Linux was an old 486/DX2!!). It has brought me a lot of independance in my work, and I perfectly know that it has a huge potencial in terms of suitability to perform demanding CPU and RAM tasks. The reason is simple. The core of the OS is extremely compact and well thought out, leaving plenty of CPU and RAM memory for tasks from applications. This, the fact that is free, open and that it's already conceived for 64-bit CPUs make me think about this project as a very promising one.

My only concern remains reliability, enough support. enough community size... But I'll be following the progress with interest!

-- Jos�.