"This is a uniquely challenging time for MS on other fronts, too: the EU has unfinished legal grievances against MS; China is adopting Linux for security reasons, because it cannot trust Microsoft; Munich, a German metropolis, is migrating to Linux for efficiency and security, and its example may spread throughout the European Union; Novell + SLES is gaining momentum; IBM is winning its dispute with SCO; the Ubuntu Linux distribution is winning devotees. MS can't afford to lower the unit prices, due to the decrease of its market share.
In such a challenging time, Microsoft seems entirely self centric in its strategy and seems to treat competitors like enemies in a permanent war, leaving no space for humanity; perhaps the strategy weakens its very foundation. Modern corporations, especially the multinationals, put feelings aside, and consider only competition in terms of monetary gain and the stock market to decide their business strategy, tending to be ruthless in their ambition to retain or grow market share.
I have reflected for long on the question of what I have known since 1995: the Microsoft empire could not last, while Linux and Open Source software would evolve and last for generations. Comparing the self centric take-no-prisoner MS with collaborative, freedom-based, fascinating GNU/Linux, I found that the major difference that gives them opposed futures has to do with something intangible but highly significant: humanity."
Click on the link below for the full article:
http://reallylinux.com/docs/empirenotlast.shtml
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