“Breaking up Microsoft will prove to be very bad news for the
some of the software company’s most ardent opponents – most of
whom, ironically, have been actively lobbying for the giant’s
break-up. That, at least, is what market research company IDC
reckons.”
“And it has a point. IDC’s logic is based on the freedom of
manoeuvre a spun-off Microsoft applications division would gain
from being rid of the pressures placed upon it by the operating
system business. Safe from the need to promote Windows, the apps
company could explore competing OS markets, and in IDC’s view, that
means offering a Linux version of Office.”
“And IDC is right: Corel and Applix would be hit hard by the
arrival of Office for Linux, a far better known – and, well, just
better – product than those two. It also comes with a far better
established sales channel and marketing budget behind it. But then
the motor for such a market is competition, and right now there’s
little of that in the Linux apps market.“