Linux has, for the most part, been the underdog in the home PC market. While there are viable alternatives such as Ubuntu, mass consumer adoption has never taken off. Microsoft apparently feels the same way and has removed Linux from its annual report where it defines its competitors.
First picked up by Wes Miller (via Yahoo), Microsoft has updated the wording it uses to define competitors of the Windows operating system. Microsoft now only states that Apple and Google are the biggest threats and has removed the section that said Linux was also a viable competitor.
The change shouldn’t come as a major surprise considering that in the past few years, Linux has yet to take a serious chunk of market share away from Microsoft. While it is not a bad operating system, it has yet to gain the attention of the masses and as we begin the slow transition away from the desktop PC, Linux will have to adjust its strategy to remain relevant.
Other than Microsoft officially saying that Linux is no longer a threat in the desktop environment, not much else will change for the corporation. Microsoft has already aligned on its Windows 8 strategy which will be unveiled this September at the BUILD conference.
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