Until now, Microsoft has not acknowledged that Linux was much of a threat. Microsoft has recently stated in an SEC filing that Red Hat and Canonical/Ubuntu are no doubt competitors to their business.
Many netbooks operate on a Linux-based OSes, and since there is a growing presence of netbooks, Microsoft is starting to feel somewhat threatened but Linux's growing ubiquity. Furthermore, because of lower costs, many netbooks are offered with Linux instead of Windows.
Microsoft's upcoming (and highly anticipated) Windows 7 OS may be a bit pricier than the current Windows XP/Vista solution, so the company is planning on continuing to offer the latter OS in order to keep prices down.
According to Rob Helm, the director of research for Directions on Microsoft (an independent organization devoted to tracking and studying Microsoft), "Netbooks opened Microsoft to the possibility that some other OS could get its grip on the desktop, however briefly. Now it's alert to that possibility going forward."
Via TechWhack.
Images from VentureBeat and TopNews.
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