Herewith a block quote from a story about Microsoft """
In response to a question about whether Microsoft plans a version of Office for the Linux operating system, Ballmer said no, but "never say never. But we have no current plans and don't see that as an interesting opportunity."
Ballmer said the market for Linux on client systems is still small. "It's smaller than the market for the Mac. The Mac is a nice, small business for Microsoft. But it is a small business. If someone says you have an opportunity to support a new platform that's less popular than the Mac, I'm not sure that is a good starting point," he said.
"People aren't used to paying for software on Linux. This isn't about religion, it's about business. We need to figure out what they need to get done and what they will pay for," Ballmer said.
"""[1]
Notice that he isn't dismissing it out of hand; and I am willing to bet that they could have
Microsoft Office Services for Red Hat Linux tomorrow if there were a compelling business reason for them to do so.
And yes it would have all of the binary only DRM bits included.
But this may be a sign that the monopoly is crumbling around the edges.
The thing is, they have waited long enough that Office for Linux is going to be facing some serious competition, and the fact that Microsoft is
dissing an emerging market for Office in order to guard it's platform monopoly creates an internal tension that will cause some interesting
contradictions.
1. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5094279.html
-- "The Internet is falling" --C. Little 2003
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