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Linux has been cutting into Microsoft's market share for some time now, but up until recently, it was difficult to get Microsoft to admit as much. But in a recent filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft for the first time named a pair of Linux distributors -- Red Hat and Canonical -- as competitors to its Windows client business.
"Client faces strong competition from well-established companies with differing approaches to the PC market," Microsoft said in the filing. "Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat."
Microsoft went on to reference netbooks, noting that Linux has gained "some acceptance," noting that "competitive pressures lead OEMs to reduce costs and new, lower-price PC form-factors gain adoption."
Canonical makes the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, known for its ease of use and often recommended to users new to open source OSes.
Image Credit: Techworld.com
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