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Microsoft disregards Linux as threat. Big mistake.
IT World ^ | 12 August 2011 | Brian Proffitt

Posted on 08/15/2011 6:06:08 AM PDT by ShadowAce

It seems Matt Rosoff is having a little bit of snark over Microsoft apparently disregarding Linux as a threat to its desktop business.

The schadenfreude stems from a tweet from Wes Miller, Research VP at Directions on Microsoft, which points out that Microsoft's boilerplate from its last two annual SEC filings has some interesting revisions, as seen here.

nid%3D192877%7Ctitle%3DMicrosoft%20YoY%20SEC%20Revisions%7Cdesc%3DMicrosoft%20YoY%20SEC%20Revisions%7Clink%3Dnone

 

 

Predictably, Rosoff pours salt on the wound by off-handedly cackling about Jim Zemlin's comments earlier this year that taking on Microsoft would be like "kicking a puppy."

To be fair, Rosoff did a little digging in the same SEC filings and discovered that Linux was still present in the documents, most notably as competition in the server and embedded spaces.

First off, let's be clear: in the passage Miller and Rosoff gleefully cite, Google is still mentioned as competition on the desktop. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Google's desktop offering ChromeOS actually Linux?

Why yes, yes it is.

So, while Microsoft seems to be sweeping the Linux problem under the rug, anyone with half a brain can see that Linux is still a threat here, if not in actual name.

I would be dishonest if I were to suggest that at this time ChromeOS has significant market share against Windows. Frankly, no operating system does. But Linux is still in Microsoft's radar, never fear.

And I wonder what Microsoft's mobile section of its SEC filings will say in the face of yesterday's news that Windows Phone 7 2Q sales are so bad they've slipped below that of Samsung's in-house platform Bada? Bada, ladies and gentlemen, Bada is selling better at 1.9 percent than Windows Phone 7's 1.6 percent, with Android sitting on top for the same quarter at 43.4 percent.

Gee, that's awfully bad news, considering that "IBM engineer Mark Dean, who was on the team that built the first IBM PC, says the PC era is basically over." I would point these stories out to Rosoff, but it seems he actually wrote the stories to which I just linked.

Let me see if I have got this straight: Linux, according to Microsoft, has lost on the desktop, even though one of its cited competitors uses Linux. Meanwhile, a lot of smart people (besides just Dean) are pointing at mobile (tablets and smartphones) as the Next Platform, and right now Windows' mobile offering can't get mobile traction to save its life, while a Linux-based OS is kicking butt and taking names on smartphones and isn't doing too bad on tablets.

Boy, I'm so glad Rosoff is here to point such things out to me. Otherwise I might actually be worried.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: linux; microsoft
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To: ShadowAce

Face it. You cannot win against logic this good.


41 posted on 08/15/2011 7:00:50 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Why did you post this, and why did you post it on Free Republic?)
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To: ShadowAce

I don’t really care about the wider adoption of Linux on the desktop. As long as it’s still lively enough to keep up with continued development, I’m good with running a platform that is stable, robust, and relatively virus/malware free. Let the rest of the world continue to be stuck dealing with the crap they have to put up with in a Microsoft operating system. i have email filters to deal with their spam-spewing zombies.


42 posted on 08/15/2011 7:01:11 AM PDT by zeugma (The only thing in the social security trust fund is your children and grandchildren's sweat.)
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To: Lazamataz
Ergo, Linux is porn.

Not porn--X is the Roman ten--hence Linux is a ten.

43 posted on 08/15/2011 7:02:04 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

linux has a serious problem penetrating the mass market. It is still pretty much a technobabble device for endusers.

I am will to bet if the article was “apple disregards linux” the mac snobs will be circling the waggons in support.


44 posted on 08/15/2011 7:05:10 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Lazamataz
Linux is a hobbyist platform for script kiddies and wannabees. It is not a serious operating system.
Yeah. Sure.

Tell that to Google, Amazon, Netflix, The New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange (after a disastrous attempt to use Windows). You probably have Linux computers in your house (computer routers, Tivo and other DVRs, Televisions, etc.).

But if it makes you feel better to think that Linux is only a hobbyist platform, you go right ahead.

45 posted on 08/15/2011 7:05:41 AM PDT by Johnny B.
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To: ShadowAce
The word Decimate, based on the Roman Number X, means to kill one tenth of your troops. Therefore, if you use Linux, there is a one-in-ten chance a Legatus will come up and kill you.

And you don't want that.

Don't even try, you cannot win.

46 posted on 08/15/2011 7:08:03 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Why did you post this, and why did you post it on Free Republic?)
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To: Johnny B.
Tell that to Google, Amazon, Netflix, The New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange (after a disastrous attempt to use Windows).

Not serious companies. Show me Linux in a company that actually does something.

47 posted on 08/15/2011 7:09:20 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Why did you post this, and why did you post it on Free Republic?)
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To: Lazamataz

LOL!


48 posted on 08/15/2011 7:11:02 AM PDT by BelegStrongbow (St. Joseph, patron of fathers, pray for us!)
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To: longtermmemmory
You use Linux every day, whether you know it or not.

In fact, I can guarantee that you are using it right now.

49 posted on 08/15/2011 7:11:12 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

The question is, what will the desktop be in a couple of years.

I suggest that eventually the handheld device will be the desktop, and will simply be wirelessly attached to the monitor and keyboard, or a docking station, when you want to use it as in a similar manner to a desktop.


50 posted on 08/15/2011 7:11:29 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: ShadowAce

My take?

Linux’s trajectory is up.

MS’s trajectory is down.

Where and when the lines cross and in response to what events is anyone’s guess. But in my opinion the eventual outcome is virtually certain.


51 posted on 08/15/2011 7:12:09 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: ShadowAce
I just logged into a Windows box this morning and couldn't get any work done. Had to go back to a real OS to get anything accomplished.

You must be using the command line.

52 posted on 08/15/2011 7:14:38 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: dfwgator

Possibly. I don’t disagree with you but I don’t agree yet. We’ll have to wait and see. I actually see those devices as merely being adjuncts to the desktop that you can take with you—but it won’t be the primary device (storage or otherwise) for most homes.


53 posted on 08/15/2011 7:15:19 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

Not now, certainly, but in a few years, they should be just as powerful as any desktop, or at least good enough to function as a desktop.


54 posted on 08/15/2011 7:17:36 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Lazamataz
Tell that to Google, Amazon, Netflix, The New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange (after a disastrous attempt to use Windows).
Not serious companies. Show me Linux in a company that actually does something.
OK, you've convinced me. I'm going to switch back to a REAL computer and OS:

Wikipedia

55 posted on 08/15/2011 7:18:17 AM PDT by Johnny B.
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To: BelegStrongbow

Excellent point. I give you high marks in the Logic and Deductive Reasoning department.


56 posted on 08/15/2011 7:18:43 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Why did you post this, and why did you post it on Free Republic?)
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To: Johnny B.

Do not underestimate the Commodore. Furthermore, I have it on good authority that the Vic-20 is poised for a comeback.


57 posted on 08/15/2011 7:19:53 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Why did you post this, and why did you post it on Free Republic?)
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To: Moonman62
Partially. But I was also trying to show that one's individual experience does not determine, nor measure, the worth, state, or capability of an entire OS.

Windows is good for those who are familiar with it, and don't need to perform tasks for which it is not well suited. When you try to conform another OS into the same mold as Windows, you will be disappointed, and feel like it is not up to the same level of competence as Windows, when the reality is that in some (if not most) areas, Linux is much more refined and developed than Windows is.

Linux is not Windows and shouldn't be treated, or judged, by the same standards.

58 posted on 08/15/2011 7:21:15 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Lazamataz
TRS-80!

/thread.

59 posted on 08/15/2011 7:30:16 AM PDT by Michael Barnes (Obamaa+ Downgrade)
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To: Lazamataz

"..."

60 posted on 08/15/2011 7:40:37 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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