Are everyone’s favorite Microsoft apps coming soon to a Linux box near you? Between a potential government breakup and a newly-announced .net strategy, that possibility seems more and more realistic…
Microsoft is under pressure on the Linux front. While the company awaits a decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear its appeal of a federal order to split the company in two, a mutiny is occurring inside and outside its ranks. Inside the company, its own programmers — some of whom have used Linux for years — are putting pressure on management to start building Linux applications, according to insiders. Their argument: the Windows market for desktop applications is mature and growing at a slower rate than the potentially explosive market for Linux applications on the desktop. What’s more, if the Feds succeed in breaking up the software giant, asked one Microsoft programmer, “isn’t it better to be ahead of the game, with Linux applications ready to hit the market” just when smaller rivals are ready to make a splash? The only thing holding back applications for Linux inside Microsoft is the behemoth’s paranoia about cannibalizing its own Windows empire, insiders acknowledge. While Microsoft has sometimes publicly argued that it has no problem creating software for rival platforms, citing the Mac as an example, insiders point out that the Mac was never really a competitive threat to the software giant because it represents a different processor platform. As…
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