Wow. OK then. Around 2000 was the time I first switched to Linux as my primary desktop OS -- I disliked Windows XP that badly, I put up with the slightly ropy

Wow. OK then. Around 2000 was the time I first switched to Linux as my primary desktop OS -- I disliked Windows XP that badly, I put up with the slightly ropy experience of Caldera OpenLinux. So it was very definitely A Thing by the turn of the century, but maybe not all the tools that everyone needed were available yet. (And the only usable desktop distros still cost money back then.)