[ Thanks to renai43
for this link. ]
“In recent press coverage, the heavyweights of Microsoft
seem unable to agree on the seriousness of the Linux threat.
Admittedly it’s hard to envisage a “threat” to one of the world’s
biggest and most powerful software merchants coming from a rag-tag
bunch of part-time programmers trying to convince the world to live
in their idealistic world built on free software. However, now
Linux is not a phenomenon sweeping the net. It’s a venture backed
by some of the largest computer companies in the world – Sun, IBM,
Compaq and Corel.”
“There has been no concerted policy from Microsoft with
reference to Linux, although recently a position was advertised on
Microsoft’s jobs network – a Linux position which would basically
see a paid Microsoft employee dealing solely in Linux policy. Maybe
Microsoft will come up with a policy sometime about Linux sometime
in the future – about the same time the Australian Government and
Senator Alston come up with a comprehensive (and practical!!)
Information Technology policy, maybe.”
“In a recent speech to IDC’s European IT Forum, Steve Ballmer,
Microsoft’s President and Chief Executive talked about “the
phenomenon of Linux” as being a large threat to the software giant.
Other named threats included Sun, IBM, Oracle and America Online.
However, unlike the aforementioned software companies, Ballmer
admitted that he could not think which Linux companies to name.
This columnist would suggest a few likely ones like Red Hat, makers
of the most popular Linux distro, as well as Suse, the great
European distributor, however Ballmer obviously doesn’t consider
Red Hat as a large enough threat, even with the Red Hat Certified
Engineers pouring out of the labs and giving the MCSE’s a run for
their money.”