"Microsoft doesn't talk about its Linux strategy very much. But
it is an open secret in Silicon Valley that the company could
rather easily steal the thunder from faddishly popular Linux firms,
such as Caldera Systems Inc. {CALD} and Red Hat Inc. {RHAT}, at
just about anytime it chooses. Microsoft could, in fact, co-opt the
open-source movement the way it co-opted the Web-browser business
-- after it found that its proprietary online technologies couldn't
compete with the Internet formats that Netscape was
popularizing."
"The moment of truth for the Linux companies will arrive if
and when they start to succeed in any truly meaningful way.
Students of Microsoft have no doubt that, if Linux really starts to
catch on, Bill Gates & Co. will stop dissing the Windows
alternative and get at the head of the Linux parade -- if that is
what it takes to keep its position in the software
industry."
"The only thing Microsoft has to do is to release its own
version of the Line OS. There is no reason to do that now, given
the still-small market share commanded by Linux software,
particularly on the end-user side. But let that market continue to
grow a little more and Microsoft will be faced with a choice:
Either it cedes part of its core OS market to the Linux companies,
or it competes with them head-to-head."
