ZDNet: Microsoft licence plan may boost Linux
May 11, 2001, 13:22 (29 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Robert Leemos)
Over the course of the past week, we've received a lot of
submissions about Microsoft's licensing plan, which will, among
other things, effectively penalize companies that choose to upgrade
their "subscribed" software at a slower rate than others. This
piece provides more than an excuse to populate the talkbacks with
declarations of Microsoft's imminent demise by looking at the
effect the new plan could have on Linux. In a nutshell: world
domination of the desktop isn't likely, but it may represent gained
ground.
"In other words, without a version of Office running on
Linux, even lower prices may not lure business customers to the
free operating system. With Microsoft Office owning 94 percent of
the market, according to Kusnetzky, Linux is unlikely to storm the
desktop market.
However, many desktops are used for so-called transactional
applications: databases, order entry and Web site production, to
name a few. Those PCs could be moved to Linux, said Kusnetzky."
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