The world of technology is like a war these days, with every company competing to step above the rest and keep afloat in the current economic crisis. Microsoft is no exception, and CEO Steve Ballmer has named a different foe than the usual Apple: Linux.
OS News reports that Ballmer delivered the statement whilst holding a speech for investors. During the show, he provided the following slide:
"Linux, you could see on the slide, and Apple has certainly increased its share somewhat," Ballmer had said, and he also went on to inform investors about Microsoft's biggest competitor: Windows. Yes, due to piracy, Windows is Microsoft's biggest challenge, and Ballmer said, "That's a competitor that's tough to beat, they've got a good price and a heck of a product, but we're working on it." Sure enough, unlicensed copies of Windows take second place on the OS market share, more than both OS X and Linux combined, so it's easy to see why it's a threat to Microsoft.
Additionally, the Microsoft CEO went on to say, "I think depending on how you look at it, Apple has probably increased its market share over the last year or so by a point or more. And a point of market share on a number that's about 300 million is interesting. It's an interesting amount of market share, while not necessarily being as dramatic as people would think, but we're very focused in on both Apple as a competitor, and Linux as a competitor."
In today's market, consumers will, more often than not, go for the cheapest possible products. Linux can provide that, and unfortunately, so can piracy. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the future. Also, it was interesting to see "Windows 7 for Netbooks" under revenue realization, showing that Microsoft is putting high hopes on that, as well as emerging markets.
[Thanks, xploit1030!]
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