USA TODAY Money section Friday, January 4, 2002. Written by Byron Acohido.
Tech giant takes up arms against popular, free system. Observers say this plan could ultimately backfire.
SEATTLE — Microsoft is escalating its war against Linux, the free operating system begun as a hobby of internet “dabblers” but increasingly the darling of bankers, retailers and Hollywood special effects wizards.
Unlike others Microsoft has vanquished, Linux is more a grass-root religion than a vulnerable corperate target. While Microsoft jealously guards its core software code, Linux code is open and continually improved by thousands of top programmers around the world who believe software should benefit society.
“THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY MAY BE ONE OF THE GREATEST VOLUNTEER MOVEMENTS IN HISTORY.” – Mathew Szulik, CEO of Linux distributor Red Hat.
IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others have begun bundling Linux into computer hardware, while business software makers like Oracle and SAP, now routinely fold it into thier product lines. Amazon dot-com has converted most of its servers to Linux to handle the large server load it got this holiday season. And most of the cutting edge effects seen in Shrek, Monsters INC, etc, were processed with Linux Software.
Microsofts 92% monopoly of desktop operating systems remains stable…for now at least.
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