If Linux didn't exist, we would have MS enterprise server costing $5000,
Linux cost MS loads of money, by competing in the potentially most profitable of all markets, the enterprise server.
IF Linux establishes itself with a REAL market share on the desktop/laptop market, MS profits will plummet.
Linux has not won on the desktop, but it is a real and present danger to MS.
Apple is a more manageable threat, because they compete in a way MS understands better, and MS owns part of Apple, so Apple profit is also profit for MS.
I guess the MS fear for Linux is that if Linux for some reason suddenly really caught traction, it could potentially wipe MS out (probably never will) in a worst case scenario, This threat is not as likely from Apple, because Apple is just one vendor, where the rest of the PC industry is a mix of many vendors. HP Dell Asus Acer etc. Which incidentally all now offer Linux alternative to Windows on their netbooks.
Linux may never get above a few percent of the market, but the threat is none the less real.
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