“CCID Consulting’s research shows that the sales revenue of China’s Linux market in the first three quarters reaches 126.6 million Yuan, up 17% year-on-year. In 2008Q3, China’s Linux market’s growth rate slows down; the sales revenue reaches 45.5 million Yuan, up 29% year-on-year.”
see CCID Consulting: Linux Competition towards Integration, Ecological Environment Has Improved
If sales are that good, imagine what free downloads/CD copies are doing.
9461
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It seems to be getting more and more difficult to be a Microsoft advocate. I know it’s getting easier to be a Linux advocate. I just read that the “Vista Capable” class action lawsuit could cost Microsoft between 3 and 5 billion dollars. That kind of money used to be pocket change to them. Not anymore.
I have seen a few Vista-incapable PCs. They were very sad. The owners were angry. Some converted to GNU/Linux.
I doubt the suit will cost them that much in cash but it may cost them more in terms of lost future business. If the trial gets news coverage they will lose in a big way because their internal memos will be more public. I expect M$ will try hard to settle out of court. I expect the other side will hold out for cash instead of M$’s retail-priced products so it will be interesting. M$ will no doubt delay as much as possible if they cannot settle out of court to minimize lost future business. By the time the trial finishes, their business may be harmed by other factors. I do not see any up-side from M$’s point of view except keeping the money flowing in as long as possible and diversifying in the meantime. Already the OS is a small part of their business. Perhaps they will sell it to the Chinese…