[ Thanks to abpimentel for this link.
]
“The interview followed Gates’ keynote address at the Asian CEO
Summit 2000 held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, where
more than a hundred of the region’s top businessmen were invited to
listen to Gates talk about how technology and the new economy are
changing the rules of business….”
“Global Linux 2000 is also being held here in Seoul. Is that why
you are also here? What are your thoughts about Linux?”
“Linux is just one of many, many competitors that Microsoft
faces. This a very competitive industry. There’s Solaris, the
Macintosh OS, AIX and many different flavors of Linux. We have a
lot of people who do operating systems, like the Palm OS. If you
ask which of all these operating systems run against us most of
all, it depends on what customer segment you’re talking about.
Linux could be one of the most important.”
“We even compete with our current installed base more than
anything. These are people who say they just want to stay with
their current version of Windows. That’s our number one competitor.
Linux might only be number two….”
“Linux is not a competitor in the sense that it does not
have any of the features of the products that we ship. It’s
unique in terms of its business model which is both a strength and
a weakness for it, but there’s nothing in terms of capabilities
(where it competes with Windows). Our contribution is in terms of
these capabilities which we think will be very important.”