Competition from Linux to Microsoft’s Windows client business

Following all of the recent news of the upcoming Linux based Google Chrome OS, Microsoft has named Linux distributors Red Hat and Canonical as potential competitors to its Windows client business. This the first time Microsoft has named Linux distributions as competition.

It is thought that this acknowledgment comes as a result of Linux’s current demand in the netbook market, which could in turn eventually affect full size notebooks and desktop PC’s. Rob Helm who is the director of research for Directions on Microsoft released this statement “Netbooks opened Microsoft to the possibility that some other OS could get its grip on the desktop, however briefly,”.

This news is huge for Linux who have recently moved from being a pretty underground alternative to Windows to what is now becoming almost a household name. Before this acknowledgement Microsoft only saw Linux servers and tools as competition, never before has it seen Linux distributions as a true alternative to Windows.

Check out ComputerWorld for full details.

I have been using Ubuntu for approximately 2 years on and off, and have really seen stability compatibility and functionality grow. Do you see Linux Distributions as a fully functional alternative to Windows?