“Microsoft Corp. is gearing up for what could be its fiercest
battle for the development market since it parted ways with IBM
Corp. over the OS/2 operating system.”
“Internet application development, Java and Linux are
‘legitimate contenders with application developers, sucking them
away from Windows, Windows CE and the Microsoft toolset,’
[Microsoft president Steve] Ballmer said. ‘The last time that even
felt approximate to this to me is … when we and IBM divorced over
OS/2,’ he said.
Now, as then, Microsoft is responding by aggressively trying to
lure developers to Windows.”