Interesting comments by Microsoft’s CTO, Craig Mundie:
Mundie said roughly 300 million computers worldwide run Windows versions that are at least two generations old, produced before Microsoft could anticipate some Internet threats.
Such an upgrade would cost hundreds of dollars for each computer.
“If everybody ran the newest version of Windows, we’d be way better off today,” he said. “We have no way to go require businesses or consumers to go ditch their old machines.”
The is the first big opportunity for Linux and the server-centric computing architecture. Convert these older machines into thin clients (TCs). That eliminates the need for upgrades (forever). It saves organisations money both on hardware and on software (Microsoft XP, other new versions). For a start, organisations should see who needs to run only the base set of applications – browser, email, wordprocessor, spreadsheet, presentation, IM – and switch them over the a Linux TC.
invisible market Linux
