“The end-user has not asked for such integration and will not
find it compelling. What the end-user has asked for is simple
computers that do not crash, that can browse the Web, read e-mail,
process words, play MP3s. Computers that are easy to use and can
interoperate. Once Linux’s graphical user interface matures and
stabilizes, it will become exponentially more attractive to
users. If Microsoft is smart, it will have Linux-enabled
copies of Office on hand to sell — after all, Microsoft has always
realized substantially greater profits from sales of applications
than from sales of Windows.”
“Which leads one to question why the company cares so much about
the OS market in the first place, and why it sees Linux as
competition. Could it be that it wants to use its control of the OS
to win control of the all desktop software and, now, Web
applications?”
“In the end, though, it doesn’t matter what Microsoft’s strategy
is or whether it’s anticompetitive — if the company continues to
cling to its brand name operating system instead of conceding that
such software is so boring and so common that it will inevitably
become invisible, the only loser will be its shareholders.”