In the last few years, we have become accustomed to living in a Windows-centric world, and yet software reliability in PC systems is still a long way from being anything desirable. Systems crash on a regular basis, and to many it has become a fact of life. There is, however, an upstart operating system called Linux whose software development process would at best be characterized as chaotic by formal process models. Les Hatton describes the dramatic inroads Linux has made in the PC server market. Learn why Linux is so reliable and easy to work with when its development processes appear to flaunt most of what we believe to be beneficial.