I can think about this issue only two possibilities.
First possibility: this Microsoft first punch is the start of a long-planned, long-term fight to revert the trend in their ever shrinking market. Well, at least to try. People and companies are switching very fast to Linux. Microsoft knew this situation since long time ago, even better than Linux enthusiasts. So we may expect more surprising twists in legal, publicity, media and propaganda battle fields. For sure, the world of operating systems will never be the same.
Second possibility: this Microsoft first punch is just a unthinked rebuff, the start of an unreflexive, unpredictable and brute force Ballmer-signed sequence of events. Revealing a hugely desperate internal state. With Stallman and Torvalds appearing in the middle of every nightmare to Microsoft executives. So we may expect really surprising twists in legal, publicity, media and propaganda battle fields. For sure, the world of operating systems will never be the same.
Slashdot Mirror
I can think about this issue only two possibilities.
First possibility: this Microsoft first punch is the start of a long-planned, long-term fight to revert the trend in their ever shrinking market. Well, at least to try. People and companies are switching very fast to Linux. Microsoft knew this situation since long time ago, even better than Linux enthusiasts. So we may expect more surprising twists in legal, publicity, media and propaganda battle fields. For sure, the world of operating systems will never be the same.
Second possibility: this Microsoft first punch is just a unthinked rebuff, the start of an unreflexive, unpredictable and brute force Ballmer-signed sequence of events. Revealing a hugely desperate internal state. With Stallman and Torvalds appearing in the middle of every nightmare to Microsoft executives. So we may expect really surprising twists in legal, publicity, media and propaganda battle fields. For sure, the world of operating systems will never be the same.
I can't think of anything in between.