Linux Users of the World Unite

The latest computing craze is the Netbook, a small, portable notebook that is light in weight, small in size and quickly connected to the internet.

Linux has had a good run on Netbooks, with return rates about average with Windows version when well-marketed and the user knows they are not getting Windows.

Yet now Microsoft is coming out withe Windows 7 which is supposed to work on even Netbook's meager specifications and blogs lit up with "Windows 7 is a Linux killer!"

This is a very telling angle.

First off, it admits that Linux is making its way into the desktop market if they are trying to depict Windows as the underdog. Linux is still behind Windows when it comes to desktop (and laptop) market share yet the Microsoft FUD machine wants to churn out that THEY are the underdog.

Second, it means that Microsoft feels threatened by Linux on the desktop. Although Apple has more market share, plus iPods plus iPhone plus iWork, Microsoft feels threatened by Linux!

While I am speculating, I wonder if Microsoft is becoming aggressive with Linux not only because Linux is gaining ground, but because it is still a strange beast (open source, that is) that Microsoft still doesn't know how to beat it and so is attacking on numerous fronts to probe for weaknesses until it figures out how to fight it.

Apple, on the other hand, is similar enough that if Linux were to disappears tomorrow, Microsoft already knows how to and can keep Apple "in line".

All this, though, may backfire as it helps advertise Linux, Windows 7 is, from what I've read, very good but is also kinda lack-luster after the Vista disappointment and people may be getting tired of Microsoft's games and decide to look at alternatives. Combined with OEMs finally getting some breathing (bargaining) room by careful use of Linux the ability for these users to find Linux and even try it is growing.

There is the possibility that Windows 7, and a whole lot of marketing, may bump Linux from the line-up. There is also that chance it doesn't, and Microsoft is not very willing to let that reality come to be.

In the meantime, between Google's Android (which is Linux based) and the movement of computing to the clouds the desktop OS is become less and less important. Thus, Microsoft Windows becomes less and less important and with Linux being an open platform I think future desktops are going to blur the lines between desktop and internet more quickly than Microsoft or even Apple.

Who knows what will happen in the coming year(s). Either way, it's going to be fun to watch!