Thanks to Marty for this
link.
“While the antitrust trial of Microsoft intensifies in
Washington, the software giant’s chief spoke about his company’s
future strategy and the changing nature of competition in the
field.”
“The interesting thing is that our estimation of who are our
most serious competitors has been changing the last years,” Bill
Gates told German computer magazine c’t. “Today’s competitors are
Palm, Symbian, JavaOS, Linux, and Solaris.”
“Gates does, however, believe that the rapidly rising Linux
could be an serious threat to Windows NT. The rival operating
system is gaining ground, but more importantly it can be obtained
for free, or for a fairly low cost. In recent weeks, an increasing
number of computer makers have warmed up to the operating
system.”