Microsoft takes Linux seriously, but most ‘customers’ will
continue to prefer Windows.
“Addressing an audience of information technology professionals
in Houston, Gates said there was clearly a market for free software
but this was mainly confined to relatively simple applications such
as word processing and spreadsheets.
“The Microsoft… chairman noted, for example, that early
Internet browsers had been distributed for free (such as
Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer), but said that modern browsers
were far more sophisticated and could no longer be developed in a
noncommercial environment.”