Microsoft Has Indeed Won

Charles Cooper of CNET.com has made some pretty compelling points in a recent article [note that the page is gone so I can't link to it anymore]. His opinion is that Microsoft has emerged from its legal battles no worse off than when it went in. As such, I'd have to agree that Microsoft has indeed won. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you to decide.

So does that mean that all is well for Microsoft? Mostly. But as usual there are threats to its dominance. The obvious is Linux on the desktop. But I think there's still time for Microsoft to do whatever it thinks needs being done to limit Linux's influence in the market. Linux has made significant inroads, but it certainly isn't mainstream yet. And I'm of the opinion that if Linux did start to represent a significant part of the desktop that Microsoft would simply port its applications to that platform. Microsoft hedged its bets with Apple so there's no reason to believe they won't do the same with Linux.