System admins routinely refer to documentation for help with obscure command line options. In this month’s Admin Workshop, we examine the programs and formats behind the command line documentation you read everyday.

My friends at the Biodiversity Research Center (http://specify software.org/In formatics) are experts in modeling the sudden changes that occur when an ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival of a new foreign species. I’m sure they don’t have a plan for modeling the Linux ecosystem, but if they did, they would also have scientific way of telling us the times they-are-a-changin’. As you probably know, the foreign species that appeared recently in the Linux ecosystem is Novell. High-tech magazines are full of commentaries describing the possible impact Novell might have on the Linux industry, but it is starting to look like the area where Novell presents the greatest mismatch for the indigenous Linux companies is in the game of brand promotion.