avid007, I'm one of the only people here who thinks Microsoft actually makes a good product (for home use, anyway) and even I don't believe that Microsoft is invulnerable, monopoly though it may be. Fact is, Steve Ballmer has publicly made it clear that Linux is the most worrisome problem Microsoft has ever faced. Since it isn't a company, more of a phenomenon, none of Microsoft's tactics seem to work on it. To think, people giving software away for free??!?? Steve can barely comprehend the notion itself, although he is beginning to pretend to cozy up to the idea, even going so far as to say he "loves open source." For him I imagine it's like cuddling up in bed with a pit viper. Before Linux came on the scene, the idea that people would actually give away software to combat Microsoft hadn't entered into even his darkest thoughts. After using some of the later versions of Linux myself, I have a feeling that Microsoft, and Apple for that matter, should be very wary of its progress. It only takes a couple of extra steps, and bam! No more proprietary operating systems. So, in my opinion, Microsoft is not invulnerable, even on the desktop. All they need to do is get complacent or make one wrong move (palladium, perhaps?) and it's over for them. I think it's great, since now we have something that will drive Microsoft to make even better products than it already does, and so even though it may stay around it will be stronger in the long run because of things like Linux.
