Not sure about 1997, but definitely in 1998: I've been a Linux user since 1995, when I worked for a (then small now big) software company. I setup up their web site on Slackware Linux, building an early content management system, early content delivery network etc. But after I left in 1998, one of the first things my replacements did was change all the web servers to run NetBSD rather than Linux, because they said it had a better networking stack.