Thanks Robert. As the government's antitrust lawsuit winds down, Microsoft's next battle may be a knock-down, drag-out fight against Linux. Like Microsoft's Windows, Linux is a computer operating system, but written and updated by volunteer programmers in a communitarian spirit, and available for free. If Linux spreads, Microsoft could see the first real challenge to its dominance of the operating-system software market. For consumers, that would be good news.
Microsoft's critics charge that its dominance of the market more than 90 percent of home computers run on its software results in high prices and reduced choice. And outside programmers have long complained that Microsoft makes it hard for them to create software compatible with Windows-based computers.
|