CNET Enterprise Computing: Microsoft's waffling on Linux

"While the software giant dismisses the 'open source' operating system as ill-adapted to the marketplace, the company simultaneously holds it up to be a competitor--convenient while Microsoft is fighting off monopoly accusations from the Justice Department.

Asked if Linux is threatening to Microsoft, Ed Muth, group product manager for Windows 2000, flatly says no.

But in nearly the same breath, Muth said that Linux does in fact compete with Windows NT, although he believes that 'Linux also competes, perhaps more vigorously, with other versions of Unix.'

A competitor but not a threat? 'A fine line,' observed Dwight Davis, an analyst at Summit Strategies, noting the obvious benefits of Microsoft's pointing to competitive dangers in light of the monopoly accusations it faces.

But regardless of how Microsoft perceives Linux, the operating system is a good bargaining chip in hardware vendors' negotiations with Microsoft on Windows licensing fees, Davis said."

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