will Linux/Unix be next microsoft operating system?

One of Microsoft's core competencies is developing and selling adequate, low cost software for users of personal PC's. Historically, major producsts of Microsoft have been Dos, Windows, games (e.g. flight simulator), personal productivity tools (e.g. word, excel, access, powerpoint, publisher,etc), low-tech development tools like Altair BASIC, Visual BASIC, etc. Microsoft has not been a provider of mission critical, high volume business transaction or processing, or complex file udating and maintenance software.

Microsoft does not sell an operating system as much as it sells a graphic user interface and applications built upon that interface. It sells good software for desktop use. THis is an overstatement to make a point, but still true enough.

Microsoft's current windows xp system reportedly has 45 million lines of code in it. There are major maintenance problems in that it is hard to change anything without breaking sopmethin else as is evidenced by how hard it is to fix security holes, and that Microsoft can't remove Internet Explorer without damaging Window's functionality. In contrast, Fedora removed the Xwindows version from Xfree and replaced it with a windowing system from Xorg without any problems. Much of Windows poor architecture stems from Microsoft building its software for user oriented functionality rather than stability and maintainability.

Apple has shown that using a Unix varient licenced with a BSD type licence (thus avoiding the GPL) is a viable model for improving performance, reducing costs, and still retain proprietary control over the GUI. With the long delay of Longhorn, perhapse Microsoft will adopt a similar strategy. Afterall, Microsoft is run by very good business men who have a good understanding of technology and the needs of there markets.