The world has officially turned upside down. First Apple starts whimpering over Microsoft’s new commercials and now Microsoft has actually admitted to being threatened by Linux. It’s complete madness! Both Microsoft and Apple always seem to act as if they could never be threatened by anyone, they are untouchable, and that’s the end of the discussion. For Microsoft to actually admit that Linux distributors Red Hat and Canonical are competition to Windows is a touch on the mind blowing side of things.
All of this was discussed in the annual filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There’s talk that what finally made Microsoft stop and think is when Netbooks started using Linux. Microsoft’s way of dealing with that was to attempt to release lightweight alternatives to Netbooks in an attempt to keep up with the new Linux sporting Netbooks. Were it not for the change with the Netbooks, it’s unlikely that Microsoft would have ever even hinted that Linux was even somewhat threatening their market.
Source: Crunchgear
