Microsoft to Linux: 'Bring it on'

The increasing popularity of open source on the desktop will drive Microsoft to create better products in response, the software giant said Wednesday.

Bradley Tipp, Microsoft's national system engineer, told the LinuxUser & Developer Expo in London that competition is good for the whole software industry and will lead to better products emerging from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.

"The thing I like is that Microsoft does its best work and is most innovative when it has competition, so bring it on," Tipp said.

Tipp's comments were the flipside to the view expressed Tuesday by Matt Asay, director of Linux business at Novell, when he asserted that the lack of alternative desktop operating systems had given Microsoft little incentive to improve its software range.

Tipp appeared as part of a debate at the conference, where a number of players in the open-source scene, including Asay, gave their view on the future of Linux on the desktop.

Asay told the event that Linux's penetration into the desktop market will mirror the progress it made in the server space three or four years ago.

"There's probably not real competition on the desktop today," said Asay. "In a year or two years, we'll see frantic competition."

Robin Wilton, program manager for Sun's Java Desktop System group, said Linux's strengthening grip on the desktop market had many benefits.

"We will see increased choice and competition. It's a positive outcome," Wilton said.

One show attendee noted how difficult it is to buy a laptop that doesn't come with proprietary software already installed.

Jeremy Allison, of the Samba team at Hewlett-Packard, said this is a problem and acknowledged that the first thing he had done with his work laptop was to reformat it and remove Windows.

"I was annoyed that I couldn't get a refund. It's a scandal that you can't do that," Allison said.

He added that HP recently said it will ship laptops with a version of Linux preinstalled and predicted that the IT industry would soon see "much more from HP in that area."

Graeme Wearden of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Los Alamos Computers sells PCs preconfigured with Linux

Choose your Linux distribution as well as the hardware features on a desktop or laptop PC. No Windows; no Windows license.

Typical hypocracy

"The thing I like is that Microsoft does its best work and is most innovative when it has competition, so bring it on," Tipp said

People have been trying to compete with Microsoft for years but Microsoft is scared of loosing it's illegally acquired dominance and market share so it uses EEE* to kill off competition and alternatives. Microsoft have many "standard" ways to kill off competition and they use it all the time to get what they want.

Why has Linux survived so far ? because Linux isn't owned by any company or any person, they can't buy it out. Linux has stood up to Microsoft's lies and public relations deceit campaigns for years. Microsoft are scared, that's why they're puppeting SCO to try and kill Linux - kill Linux and they have nothing to worry about.

* == embrace, extend, extinguish

[JoBrad]

MS isn't entirely to blame

I think the Linux influx will do exactly what MS says it will do. I think the gentleman is a little out of line complaining about Windows coming installed on a PC, though. The majority of users who buy a computer want to just be able to turn it on when they get it. You can get a computer without an installed OS, but copmanies who mass produce PCs choose the easiest way to make the most money. The profit in Windows vs. Linux still sides with Windows, if/when it sides with Linux or a choice, then you can be sure it will be offered more.