From MarketWatch:
For the first time, IBM and leading Linux distributors Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat will join forces globally with their hardware partners to deliver Microsoft-free personal computing choices with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony in the one billion-unit desktop market worldwide by 2009.
Citing shifting market forces and the growing demand for economical alternatives to costly Windows and Office-based computers, the four leaders sense an ideal set of circumstances allowing Linux-based desktops to proliferate in the coming year. Linux is far more profitable for a PC vendor and the operating system is better equipped to work with lower cost hardware than new Microsoft technology.
There were other articles I was going to post speculating that you will see Ubuntu preinstalled in most major retail stores by the end of the year, but they are only blogs.
I don't know how much market share will come from this, but it can only be a good thing that more and more big name companies with money endorse Linux. (PS. I still haven't spent a dime on software in years!)
I may buy my operating system, but I can't help but cheer for Linux. More compitition is a good thing for consumers. The nearly total dominance of Windows in the late 90's and the early part of this decade was a bad thing for consumers both in terms of prices and in terms of product quality. Now that Windows is facing serious competition from Mac OS X and Linux distributions like Ubuntu, the competition will increase quality and drive down prices - which is good news for those of us who still buy software.
ReplyDelete"More compitition is a good thing for consumers."
ReplyDeleteI agree. Though I mostly praise Ubuntu, it would be bad for computing if Ubuntu controlled things as much as Microsoft does today.