“IBM’s announcement last week that it plans to pre-install Linux
on several models of its popular ThinkPad laptops marks Big Blue’s
latest show of support for Linux and for open-source software in
general.”
“In backing the upstart technology, and its ethos of
collaborative development and free distribution, IBM is targeting a
consumer movement. It’s also, possibly, out for revenge that’s been
long in coming. It was just 15 years ago that another upstart
technology, Windows, sparked the PC revolution and humbled IBM’s
ponderous mainframes.“
“IBM’s been on the other end of this,” says Dan Kusnetzky, VP of
systems software research at International Data Corp. “They are
watching Linux do to Microsoft (MSFT) what Microsoft did to
them.”