“Office isn’t going anywhere, it’s still the #1 selling piece of software for Macs and you’d love to have it on Linux.”
You have nailed it. Business is about money.
The major cost is employee training, not software purchases. As soon as Office will run on Linux, there will be an exodus from Windows based machines.
In my semi-informed opinion, the recent increase in Mac sales is based on the availability of Office on Macs. It’s not the operating system. Most employees know nothing of the operating system. They just turn on the computer and hit the Word or Outlook icon.
Of course, Gates knows this and may not be in a hurry to release a Linux version.
Thanks, Apple’s resurgence really got rolling when they switched to Intel processors. Parallels and VMware software that allows virtualizing the Windows O/S on Macs are both in the top 20 selling apps for Macs as well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/software/ref=sv_sw_0/002-9669292-9433664