Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer took on Linux in a big way this week during the company's annual meeting with the financial analyst community, saying "too much abuse has gone on for too long." Ballmer cited that rough approximation of a line delivered by Robert DeNiro in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver after laying out a series of "facts"--including analyst reports and security advisories--designed to cast doubt on the notion that the open-source operating system is cheaper and more secure than Windows and can be patched more quickly.

The Microsoft CEO also described as "hogwash" the theory that the world is moving to services and that commercial software will disappear. "Will the software business be bigger five years from now than it is today? Or will the work of people for free be as good as the innovation and value that the commercial companies create?" Ballmer asked. He responded by saying that he's "enthusiastic" about innovation, particularly with regard to Microsoft's integrated product set and "next-generation" collaboration system, and that he expects Microsoft to be able "to charge positive prices for software five years from now."