Ballmer: Linux More Dangerous than Apple
Linux is proving to be a stronger competitor than Apple for Microsoft, says Steve Ballmer at a recent Strategic Update meeting with investors, and has a supporting graphic to prove it.
In the regular investor meetings it's customary to have Microsoft finance chief Chris Liddell and CEO Ballmer ready with financial figures, future plans, market share and competitor information. The presentations are generally done by PowerPoint, this time being no exception.
Ballmer took over when it came to market share matters. One of his slides was entitled "Economic effects on home and business PC's" on which he exposed the current market share of Windows, unlicensed Windows, Apple and Linux. His accompanying comment:
"Windows license, number one market share, number two market share goes to Windows pirated, or unlicensed... Linux, you could see on the slide, and Apple has certainly increased its share somewhat."
![](/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux_magazine_eng_us/images/news_images/windows_marketshare/315953-1-eng-US/windows_marketshare_medium.jpg)
Ballmer took the competition with Apple pretty seriously, but then remarked that "a point of market share on a number that's about 300 million is interesting." He continued, "we're very focused in on both Apple as a competitor, and Linux as a competitor. I think the dynamic with Linux is changing somewhat."
He enhanced his analysis further with another slide that showed the market share of Windows Mobile, which came in third place after Symbian and Rim/Blackberry.
Ballmer nevertheless sees the attack on Windows coming from two sides:
"I assume we're going to see Android-based, Linux-based laptops, in addition to phones. We'll see Google more as a competitor in the desktop operating system business than we ever have before."
![](/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux_magazine_eng_us/images/news_images/windows_mobile_market_share/315956-1-eng-US/windows_mobile_market_share_medium.jpg)
The consequences for Microsoft: "The seams between what's a phone operating system and a PC operating system will change, and so we have ramped the investment in the client operating system," says Ballmer.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.