Market share resides in Microsoft products...you have do to something when your on the (Linux)bottom.
p.s. Apple has 5% and Linux products are at 3%,
Linux is quite wonderful on the server side. Even FreeRepublic runs on it. Microsoft makes some good products and they command the desktop. But you can do quite a bit on Linux for near nothing while the same project on 2000 Server will cost a mint. And with their new licensing Microsoft has a lot of people looking at Linux. I understand that Microsoft has been selling a lot of XP. And that's good because in many ways they are like the Wizard of Oz with a bit of Enron mixed in. If you study their financials. But I want to see a healthy Microsoft. It's good for America.
Anyone that thinks Linux is moving backwards is uninformed. See THIS LINK for some recent stats from just a few days ago. Linux is growing rapidly and it's in the more content critical areas. Web and e-business.
That's misleading, and I think you know that. Apple may be at an overal average at 5%, but the company is very strong in Japan, with 17.5% market share. Still, the stagging numbers are actually in the number of sales of Mac OS X. Obviously, Windows has a higher market share. Yet XP has only sold 17 million copies. OS X, with its smaller share has sold 6 million. Apple is now rated the no.1 distribution of UNIX in the world, with Mac OS X. I find it interesting for such a small market share, Apple is making considerable in-roads. Heck, Apple even pays stock dividends. Microsoft has never issued a dividend, yet.
Apache web server which can run on Linux as well as OS X is the most popular web server in the world. its has over 50% market share. It is fabulous. I ran Apache on Linux for years until I moved my set up to OS X. Apache saved me from Code Red. I certainly wasn't infected.
Microsoft needs to be very afraid. There are a lot of good alternatives out there. And the XP numbers are terrible - considering market share. Securtity is a big issue. Microsoft appears not to be addressing any kind of security concerns - that's why they lost me as a customer.
Right now Linux has over 38% of the market! Apple has about 4% and Novel has like 3%. I sugguest you do some reading. Right now also with the hard economic times alot more companies are actually starting to realize the savings. Even right now Discovery.com on their mailing list uses major domo guess what that is a Linux platform! IBM is now at a break even point after dumping millions of dollars in Linux promotion! In fact wait till you watch the Super Bowl IBM has been pushing it! Wake up and smell the coffee!