eWeek: Gates Taking ‘Pervasive’ Linux Seriously

“Microsoft Corp. Chairman and chief software architect Bill
Gates on Tuesday weighed in on the threat the Linux operating
system poses to his company’s business, saying he is taking the
threat seriously as Linux is ‘out there and very pervasive…’

“‘OS/2 for about six years was that. And it wasn’t a joke; it
was all of IBM that was 10 times the size of Microsoft putting all
their energy, their leverage on ISVs, bundling it with their
systems, everything they could do to beat Windows, and we as a
company had to learn new things, do new things to respond to that
competition,’ he said.

“But Linux is an ‘unusual kind of competition because in a way
it’s out there and very pervasive. In a way, there’s more
incompatible versions of Linux than there are of all other
operating systems put together. That is, as people do innovations
on top of Linux, they don’t all get tested together and they’re not
all consistent with each other,’ Gates told the MVPs…”

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