"It is a clone of an operating system. There has yet to be any innovation, new features or new capabilities out of the Linux platform. First they cloned Unix, and there are people working on cloning some of our stuff. But it's just a cloning operating system. That doesn't mean we can stand still--we have to push along. But I don't think anyone should expect anything innovative coming out of that world. There's no data to support that." - Steve Ballmer
"Indian government tenders may soon stop specifying Microsoft or any other vendor's name in software contracts, paving the way for Linux vendors to grab government work." - Nick Farrell, in VNUNet
When a need comes up for a new file or print server, don't talk about installing a Linux box. Talk about installing a new file or print server. As long as what you implement does the job and works reliably, no one will care how it's done as long as it works. - Craig Sanders, Debian developer and professional sysadmin
"A for-profit software company cannot compete with the economics of open source -- free is as cheap as it gets. Nor, it turns out, can it compete with open source's quality testing process. Though the pace of open-source development can be languid and tends to create products less functionally rich than their proprietary counterparts, the stuff gets tested so often and so brutally by so many different people that most open-source programs are judged to be more stable and reliable. In a commodity market, low cost and reliability count more than bells and whistles." - Christopher Koch, CIO Magazine
"What I've found is that a Linux administrator who knows what he's doing should be able to administer two to three times the amount of boxes a Windows administrator should be able to administer." - Brian Schenkenfelder, n+1
"Deutsche Bank says significant demand continues to be seen for low-end servers and it is here that most analysts point to Linux, NT, and Intel-based server as dominant factors. Dell's aggressive marketing thrust and the intrigue of Linux has fueled overall demand." - Michael Singer, Siliconvalley.Internet.com
We think Linux server stuff is going to be huge, and we don't think that's something Microsoft can walk away from...We think Microsoft will (support Linux) because there are powerful economics. Microsoft is an economically driven company." - Dale Kutnick, Meta Group, in Business Week