Then *they* win? [LWN.net]

Then they win?

Posted Oct 27, 2005 7:53 UTC (Thu) by ekj (subscriber, #1524)
In reply to: Then *they* win? by TwoTimeGrime
Parent article: Ballmer: Microsoft to go after Linux strongholds (ZDNet)

No you can't.

For you to swap the roles, it would require that the Linux-community first ignored, then laughed at and then started figthing the MS-emperium, which quite obviously is simply not true.

Now, it *is* true that comercial unix-vendors for far too long ignored and laughed at the ridicolous (by their standards) MS-DOS. When they started figthing it, it was too late: Microsoft won the desktop almost by walkover, pushed by the generic hardware of IBM.

Certainly, the fact that someone which used to ignore or laugh at you now actively figths you is no proof you'll win.

It *is* however a pretty strong indication that you're making progress in a direction they don't like. It's a long time since Gates claimed: "I've never had a customer mention Linux to me." which sounds a lot like the "ignore" phase to me.

(Log in to post comments)