[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“If you were a titanic corporation (‘scuse the pun) whose sole
claim to fame involved desktop OS’es, and you were suddenly
threatened with having your flagship sunk by both governmental
edict and alternate operating systems, what would you do? Why, you
would diversify, wouldn’t you? Spread out them assets, so that when
the time comes to ditch the OS business, you and your assets will
have more than one lifeboat to jump into….”
“Console gaming machines are rather logical places to turn to
for a software maker, but Linux is also wanting to break into that
market, if memory serves. The difference however lies in the fact
that (if this rumor indeed be true) MS apparently wants a console
that they have 100% control over (hardware, software, etc), while
on the other hand, most within the Linux community would just be
happy to see Linux accepted as a console OS by the likes of Sony
and Nintendo….”
“It began with a ruling by a federal judge, and the way the
mainstream press gleefully fed on that ruling. When even Joe
sixpack was speculating on MS “impending” breakup” over the water
cooler, MS saw a very large warning sign. The second was
indeed Linux itself, when CEO’s and decision-makers saw a shaky
future in MS and wanted to look at the alternatives – Linux was the
best looking of the alternative operating systems….”