Microsoft is scared of linux

[wildman4god]

Check this site out:

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/22/microsoft-taskforce-vs-walmart-linux/

I have also seen several other articals like this before and it seems that while linux only has a 2-3% market share (i don't know the exact number) microsoft is scared to the point of crimnal activity (filing false law suits, treatining manufactures, etc.) Also microsoft has has its first ever layoff, I have heard many articals saying that if there was a year of the linux desktop it was 2008 although not as flashy as we would have liked. But I say that 2008 was only the beginning. also linux was always hugh in the server world but now it is gaining hugh speed in the device world, in this years ces linux may have not had their own booth but yet it was every where, in a hugh amount of devices. Also many companies are switching to open source standards because they no longer wish to be controlled by microsoft. And even though we are in a ressecion companies like HP and IBM that use linux as well as sell it have had higher than expected earnings. So i think that linux is slowly gaining support and will continue to do so through this ressession, lossining the iron grip of microsoft terinay.

[reprobus]

They better be scared. It might not happen anytime soon but eventually Linux will dominate!

[cardinals_fan]

They better be scared. It might not happen anytime soon but eventually Linux will dominate!
Why?

[phrostbyte]

Why?

Because Linux is more then just a product. :p

[phrostbyte]

Microsoft's core business and therefore it's position in the market depends on a strong, monopoly or monopoly-like marketshare. If they lose marketshare in Windows they lose a lot more then just Windows license fees. So they will fight very hard to protect the position of Windows, we are really just seeing a tiny bit of what they are willing to do.

[marco123]

Why don't the idiots just make a better operating system? They won't have to worry about "competition" if theirs is the best OS out there.

[cardinals_fan]

Why don't the idiots just make a better operating system? They won't have to worry about "competition" if theirs is the best OS out there.
A very large part of Windows' problems can be attributed to the NT kernel. Moving to a UNIX-like base (BSD?) would take a tremendous amount of effort and break backwards compatibility. Just think about how people would whine if none of their software for previous Windows versions worked.

[sjd]

I get frustrated by the Win users I work with who will accept issues that take days and/or $$$s to resolve (or, are willing to give up and find a work around) on Windows, but find it unacceptable that they have to take a few minutes to resolve an issue on Ubuntu (or, any other Linux distro for that matter) or learn something 'different'.

I deal with this almost daily.

It is like they figure if MSFT doesn't support/do it, it's their fault for expecting it. But, just the opposite for any other technology.

[I-75]

They better be scared. It might not happen anytime soon but eventually Linux will dominate!

Linux already dominates on the servers.

[cardinals_fan]

I get frustrated by the Win users I work with who will accept issues that take days and/or $$$s to resolve (or, are willing to give up and find a work around) on Windows, but find it unacceptable that they have to take a few minutes to resolve an issue on Ubuntu (or, any other Linux distro for that matter) or learn something 'different'.

I deal with this almost daily.

It is like they figure if MSFT doesn't support/do it, it's their fault for expecting it. But, just the opposite for any other technology.
I get frustrated by the Ubuntu users I talk to who will accept issues that take days to resolve (or, are willing to give up and find a work around) on Ubuntu, but find it unacceptable that they have to take a few minutes to resolve an issue on Windows or learn something.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

They aren't really scared of Linux. They're scared of competition and of informed users. The only reason their platform became popular in the first place is because Gates figured out how to make people "need" Microsoft software. They dumped their products on schools and OEMs for steep discounts / for free, then they misinformed the educators.

They know that as soon as there is healthy competition in this market, people will realize the choices available and that they in fact never did "need" Microsoft. Microsft now has a bubble built around their imaginary success, and as soon as it is burst they will lose a lot.

[marco123]

A very large part of Windows' problems can be attributed to the NT kernel. Moving to a UNIX-like base (BSD?) would take a tremendous amount of effort and break backwards compatibility. Just think about how people would whine if none of their software for previous Windows versions worked.

Didn't this happen to some extent with Windows Vista?

[phrostbyte]

They aren't really scared of Linux. They're scared of competition and of informed users. The only reason their platform became popular in the first place is because Gates figured out how to make people "need" Microsoft software. They dumped their products on schools and OEMs for steep discounts / for free, then they misinformed the educators.

They know that as soon as there is healthy competition in this market, people will realize the choices available and that they in fact never did "need" Microsoft. Microsft now has a bubble built around their imaginary success, and as soon as it is burst they will lose a lot.

I think Microsoft (their upper management .. whatever) is very afraid of the promise of FOSS and Linux. Really maybe right now it's like a mosquito, it really doesn't hurt them too much.

But really the worry of Linux/FOSS is it's more then just a product, but a change of the way people create and share things in such a way that just goes against the core of everything Microsoft stands for. That really scares the crap out of them I think, considering the kind of statements people within Microsoft have said about Linux and FOSS. They are also on the side of the status quo now and that's a terrible position for any technology company to be in.

It's the same reason that because FOSS is not really a company or product that they can't really use scotched earth business tactics to kill or control it like they did with their more "civilized" competitors .. Netscape, Novell, Borland, etc. That also freaks them out because they really have no clue how to "compete" (read: destroy) with Linux yet.

[cardinals_fan]

Didn't this happen to some extent with Windows Vista?
Yes, but most things still worked. The same would not be true with a completely new kernel.

[mikewhatever]

Give me a break, this thread stinks of Linux zeal.
I think, paraphrasing Steve Jobs, if Linux is to win, it has to do a great job. This ridiculous obsession with fighting the 'evil Microsoft' causes more harm then good.

[MikeTheC]

they aren't really scared of linux. They're scared of competition and of informed users. The only reason their platform became popular in the first place is because gates figured out how to make people "need" microsoft software. They dumped their products on schools and oems for steep discounts / for free, then they misinformed the educators.

They know that as soon as there is healthy competition in this market, people will realize the choices available and that they in fact never did "need" microsoft. Microsft now has a bubble built around their imaginary success, and as soon as it is burst they will lose a lot.

+1

[MikeTheC]

Give me a break, this thread stinks of Linux zeal.
I think, paraphrasing Steve Jobs, if Linux is to win, it has to do a great job. This ridiculous obsession with fighting the 'evil Microsoft' causes more harm then good.

Without a doubt, F/OSS must "do a great job" so they can compete fairly, and win on their own merits. However, there's two other factors in play here.

First, Apple is the one most significantly responsible for the visible losses (however trivial at the moment) which Microsoft is suffering on the desktop. Without Apple out there actually *marketing* a product to compete with Microsoft, no matter how bad Windows could ever get, there would be no incentive for the average person to look for alternatives, due to the Microsoft-generated perception that there are no alternatives.

Second, Linux gains it's desktop credibility through what it's done in the server market and all the corporate and purely "back end" things it can brag about, in addition to other legitimate but perhaps academic-seeming qualities, chiefly amongst those that it is better and safer because of the zero effort involved in peer review.

But yes, without a doubt Microsoft is scared s---less of Linux because, as has already been observed up-thread, it's a force they have no conventional means of fighting, and can only really try to attack through F.U.D., which ultimately does them more harm than good.