I believe that Microsoft has gained a strong hold in our minds based upon many myths and fears. These myths are fears will haunt us for ages until we openly accept and adopt the freedom of Open Source, even with some of its apparent shortcomings. Following are a few myths and facts which play a role in whether a home user shifts from Windows to GNU/Linux.

What will it take for Linux to lose the stigma that surrounds it in the eyes of IT administrators? If those particular myths could be undone, Linux adoption in businesses might benefit enormously. So what makes the myths continue?

I love mythology and there's nothing like hearing a technology myth to make my day complete. Here are the five myths related to *nix systems that I hear most often when dealing with technical and non-technical people alike. You'd be surprised as to how often even the most technical people spout these myths to each other.

There is always myths that surround the Veterans Affairs (VA) VistA Electronic Health Record. I have not found a compendium of these myths and the facts so I wrote this list. As well I was partially inspired by Fred Trotter's recent 'Antiquated or Proven?' response to a detractor of VistA. Please feel free to add to this list by replying below.

After they ignore it and dismiss it, it is time for the age old sales technique of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt - FUD. These are the typical top 5 FUD SCARE myths trotted out by enterprise software salesmen.

Recent articles, reports and documents show that there are still a lot of misperceptions regarding ODF in the market. Apparently, many people are still not well informed about ODF even though they choose to write about ODF. Therefore, I thought it can't hurt trying to dispel a couple of myths around ODF.

If the idea of using Linux in your business is one that makes you nervous, chances are you've fallen prey to one or more of the many myths out there that are frequently disseminated by competing vendors such as Microsoft.

The sheer ignorance regarding casual Linux users astounds me to no end. While I'm not interested in pointing fingers, there is a lot of misinformation about the Linux community, and we will help to dispel some of these myths, once and for all.

Here is a list of five of the biggest Linux myths out there and how you can make Linux your friend.