<snip> Unlikely. They've tried to corner the PDA market and sort of failed, they tried to corner the enterprise server market and again sort of failed, they tried to enter the interactive TV market and so far not much is happening and they also tried to enter the video game market: to early to tell. </snip>
They failed the first tinme, and the second... but like Microsoft, they keep trying. You can't take that away from them. And the new ones are so nicely integrated and seamless with the Microsoft desktop that you just may see them taking over soon. I heard (unconfirmed) that the BBC threw out all their Palms in favour of the Pocket PC because of its enhanced security and native 128-bit encryption. The enterprise space? The TV market? Games? Keep watching - just like the pocket pc, they will keep getting back on the horse until they learn to ride. Microsoft is a massive company with huge resources and some very very good engineers. They have some really good products, and they are responsible for some very good developments in the software and hardware markets. I don't deny their methods have been dodgy at best, but they are (to all outwards appearances) trying to clean that up. Security? Yep, they suck... but thats another horse they keep getting back on... and they're getting better at that too. They have some nice security tools available now, and are releasing some more in the near future which will make security management on Microsoft stuff more manageable. I think M$ bashing is fun, just like the next guy... but Linux is playing catchup, and is a very distant second as far as the desktop and personal use space is concerned. And while Linux is leaping forward, so is Windows - not to mention the myriad of other products that Microsoft have in their portfolio. XP is a very nice product. Fast, stable, pretty as all-hell to look at and easy to use. Product activation is still a bone of contention tho... This is a warning more than anything. Linux is behind, and will be for some time. I don't think the world can afford to have M$ pull out of the running - they push technology. I'm not a Microsoft advocate, I'm an engineer who has to work with it, and Linux, and Mac, and Palm, and even an old VAX thing that was made about when I was! Technology is goodm, and any company which pushes it also has some inherent good. Shit, I'm rambling... I just get sick of all the MS bashing that happens every time someone mentions the anti-trust case or some new security loophole that gets found in one of their products. If nothing else, it'll give you all something else to bitch at :) Regards Steve
