Reply #4: Linux is getting to the point where it can compete [View All]

[JPettus]

While M$ still has a stranglehold in the US, Linux is taking off across Europe and Asia. M$ is already having a problem dealing with the piracy of their OS in Asian companies and the fact that Linux is free and being used more and more widely poses a long term problem for them. As the OS continues to develop it is becoming as easy for the non-technical user to install and use as Windows and much less costly than Apple. The new release of Ubuntu, "Gutsy Gibbon" is allegedly even easier to install and use than any of it's predecessors and compares very well with XP and Vista in terms of easy to use. (I say allegedly because I've downloaded it but won't install it until after the first)

M$ CEO Ballmer keeps making noises about intellectual property, but since Windows intellectual property was actually "borrowed" originally from Unix and then from Apple, they are hardly in a position to point fingers, and when challenged Ballmer refuses to be specific about what intellectual property they think their lawyers could prove a case from in Linux.

SCO HAD to attack Linux, as they were going down like the Titanic otherwise. It was a last ditch effort to get some cash to keep going.

M$ doesn't have that excuse but it may be part of a long term plan to slow down the rise of the Linux desktop.