[Linux-aus] Microsoft's position on Linux through the years (FORBES)

[Arjen Lentz]

[quite interesting to see the timeline - and the progression of the
stock value. Anyway I think it shows that we're on the right track. Of
course we must still get "there" before Longhorn.]


Microsoft's position on Linux through the years (FORBES)

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0816/065sidebar.html

Yeah, That's the Ticket . . .
08.16.04

Microsoft's top duo have changed their tune on Linux since 1998. Note that
its stock is where it was back then.

November 1998 Ballmer calls it "LIE-NUCKS." Asked to confirm the
pronunciation, he says: "There is no financial incentive to answering that
question."

March 1999 Gates says: "Certainly we think of it as a competitor in the
student and HOBBYIST MARKET. But I really don't think in the commercial
market we'll see it in any significant way."

July 1999 Ballmer tells financial analysts: "Linux is a serious, albeit a
LITTLE BIT CRAZY, implementation of Unix on the Intel platform."

June 2000 Gates says: "LINUX IS NOT A COMPETITOR in the sense that it has
any features that the product we shipped two years ago doesn't have."

September 2000 Ballmer says Sun, IBM, Oracle, AOL and "THE PHENOMENON OF
LINUX are the biggest threats to Microsoft."

June 2001 Ballmer says: "LINUX IS A CANCER that attaches itself in an
intellectual property sense to everything it touches."

September 2001 Ballmer says to Microsoft employees: "You know who I think
our BIGGEST COMPETITOR is? Linux. Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux.... Burn it on
your forehead, people: Linux."

October 2003 Ballmer: "There's nobody to hold ACCOUNTABLE for security
issues with Linux."

July 2004 Ballmer on Linux: "It's keeping us on our feet."

[end of article]


-- 
Arjen Lentz, Technical Writer, Trainer
Brisbane, QLD Australia
MySQL AB, www.mysql.com

Brisbane 6 Sep 2004 (5 days): MySQL & PHP Training
Training,Support,Licenses,T-shirts @ https://order.mysql.com/?ref=marl