tlug: Microsoft says Linux making gains on Windows (fwd)

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/980925/bg4.html

details: (comments in brackets)

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WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) said
on Friday in a filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission it expects its Windows
operating system to have more
competition from rival operating systems such as Linux.

``Over the past year the Linux operating system has gained increasing
acceptance, and leading software developers such as Oracle and
Corel have announced that they will develop applications that run on
Linux,'' Microsoft said in its annual filing with the SEC.

Linux is the free version of the UNIX operating system that runs on
Intel-based PCs and Internet servers. It was developed by volunteers
around the world who coordinated their efforts using the Internet. It is
the most well-known of the so-called ``open-source'' software
which proponents hope will help bring down prices for commercial software.

Microsoft faces a trial Oct. 15 on a federal complaint that it has abused
monopoly power over operating system software for personal
computers, using that monopoly to compete unfairly. Microsoft denies that
it holds a monopoly.

In a news release earlier in the day, the ``Project to Promote Competition
& Innovation,'' a strong critic of Microsoft, said that about 90
percent of personal computers run on Windows and ``97 percent of PCs are
shipped with the Windows operating system on board.''

[ Let's see, 90% run Windows, 97% are shipped with it... so could you
therefore extrapolate a 'guesstimate' of 5% market share for Linux?  Not a
bad start, i suppose ]


Jim Cullinan, a spokesman for Microsoft, replied: ``Our products are very
popular and many companies see the benefits of Windows. We
don't comment on specific market share.''

[ This plays into the, "The two most common things in the universe are
hydrogen and stupidity" theory quite nicely, doesn't it? ]


The critics said ``a visit to any computer store'' will dispel the
assertion that Microsoft does not hold a monopoly.

``The sales personnel will show you many brands of personal computers, but
unless they brand is Apple they will all run on Windows,'' the
Project to Promote competition said in a statement. 

[ Well, unless it's T-Zone... :) ]


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