epilogue

For the first time, Microsoft acknowledge GNU/Linux as a threat to its business in its annual filing to the US SEC. GNU/Linux vendors RedHat and Canonical have been named.

It was the humble NetBook that drove the wedge, as Rob Helm, Director of Research acknowledged:

Netbooks opened Microsoft to the possibility that some other OS could get its grip on the desktop, however briefly…

Microsoft said in the filing. “Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat.”

Helm also added that Microsoft is trying to discourage the production of inexpensive computers where Windows becomes the most expensive component because it can’t make as much money on Windows on these devices, and they could drive down the price of Windows. As far as the OS goes, Microsoft can’t seem to match the price of its own OS with Apple. Apple’s much slated Snow Leopard is now on sale (pre-order) at Amazon for US$ 29, while the new Windows 7 can set a consumer back by a good US$ 299. Most GNU/Linux distributions are essentially free.

This seems to me the beginning of the great undoing… Many smaller guerilla outfits taking on a biggie. Statistically, biggies have little chance.

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